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THE    ENEMY    AT 
TRAFALGAR 


AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  BATTLE 
FROM  EYE-WITNESSES^  NARRATIVES 
AND  LETTERS  AND  DESPATCHES  FROM 
THE    FRENCH   AND   SPANISH    FLEETS 


BY 

EDWARD     FRASER 

AUTHOR   OF    "FAJIOUS   FIGHTERS   OF  THE   FLEET " 


ILLUSTRATED 


•    * 

■»    » 


NEW   YORK 

E.    P.    DUTTON    &   CO. 

31    WEST    TWENTY-THIRD    STREET 


^5 


^ 


Printed  in  1906  by  W.  Brendon  and  Son,  Limited, 
West  Hoe,  Plymouth,  England 


:  :•: 


PREFACE 

rpHE  idea  of  this  book  is  to  render  tribute  to 
-^  the  gallant  men  at  whose  expense  our  own 
Nelson  achieved  his  crowning  fame.  Conversely, 
it  should  serve  as  the  highest  kind  of  tribute  to 
Nelson  himself,  and  those  who  helped  him  to  win 
the  day.  Fair  play  to  the  enemy  involves  no 
disloyalty  to  the  memory  of  our  own  peerless  chief 
and  his  gallant  comrades  in  arms.  Nothing  can 
detract  from  Nelson's  renown  as  the  ablest,  the 
most  brilliant,  the  most  heroic  leader  the  world 
has  known  in  war  at  sea : — 

In  freta  dum  fluvii  current,  dum  montibus  umbrae 
Lustrabunt  convexa,  polus  dum  sidera  pascet. 
Semper  honos,  nomenque  tuum,  laudesque  manebunt. 

Least  of  all  a  book  such  as  this,  which  purports  to 
relate  incidents  of  Trafalgar  as  witnessed  from  the 
side  of  the  enemy. 

Throughout,  what  took  place  in  the  battle  is 
described  from  the  enemy's  point  of  view ;  and,  as 
far  as  possible,  in  the  words  of  the  officers  and 
men  —  from    Admiral    Villeneuve    himself,    the 


239931 


iv  THE  ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

enemy's  commander-in-chief,  downwards  —  whose 
personal  experiences  supply  the  basis  of  the 
narrative. 

We  have  all  heard  of  what  happened  on  our 
own  side,  and  of  the  heroism  that  so  many  of  our 
officers  and  men  displayed.  The  incidents  of 
Trafalgar  on  the  enemy's  side  offer  a  situation 
that  will  be  new  to  most  of  us,  and  should  prove 
interesting,  particularly  at  the  present  time.  There 
were  many  fine  fellows  in  the  Franco-Spanish 
Fleet  on  the  21st  of  October,  1805,  and  they  did 
their  duty  to  the  utmost  of  their  power.  We,  for 
our  part,  had  Nelson,  "  the  greatest  sailor  since  the 
world  began,"  to  lead  us ;  our  captains  had  wider 
experience,  and  our  sailors  were  better  trained  at 
the  guns  than  those  opposed  to  them :  that  made 
the  deciding  difference  to  the  fate  of  the  day. 

This  should  be  remembered.  At  Trafalgar  the 
antagonists  were  hardly  a  match,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  the  Combined  Fleet  counted  six  ships 
more  than  the  British.  The  enemy  were  in  no 
condition  to  give  battle,  as  they  themselves  knew 
well  and  said  before  they  put  to  sea.  The  Com- 
bined Fleet  was  made  up  from  two  navies,  each 
trained  in  its  own  way,  and  differing  markedly  in 
efficiency  ;  belonging  also  to  nationalities  hardly  at 
one  in  political  sympathy.  The  Combined  Franco- 
Spanish  Fleet  sailed  to  fight  a  decisive  battle  with 
their  ships  for  the  most  part  inefficiently  equipped. 


PREFACE  V 

partly  owing  to  local  difficulties  at  the  port  of  de- 
parture, the  result  of  international  jealousy  and 
friction;  also  with  quite  half  the  Spanish  ships 
manned  only  by  raw  landsmen  and  soldiers.  Ad- 
miral Villeneuve,  brave  and  talented  and  pains- 
taking an  officer  as  he  was,  had  in  fact  a  practically 
impossible  task  set  him  to  perform.  There  was 
no  cordiality  between  the  French  and  Spanish 
officers — openly  expressed  dislike  rather,  on  both 
sides.  The  French  Commander-in-Chief  had  little 
confidence  in  his  own  officers,  and,  for  their  part, 
the  majority  of  them  were  not  in  accord  with  him. 
His  indecision  at  earlier  stages  of  the  campaign 
had  turned  many  against  him.  Admiral  Ville- 
neuve sailed,  conscious  that  success  was  practically 
impossible ;  and,  in  addition,  weighed  down  with 
the  knowledge  of  Napoleon's  attitude  towards 
himself  for  what  had  taken  place  previously  in  the 
campaign.  Only  a  few  hours  before  he  sailed  he 
had  accidentally  learned,  moreover,  that  another 
admiral  had  been  appointed  to  supersede  him  and 
was  on  his  way  to  do  so,  travelling  with  post  haste. 
All,  however,  said  and  done,  whatever  Admiral 
Villeneuve's  personal  defects  of  temperament  may 
have  been,  no  French  admiral,  with  such  a  fleet  as 
Villeneuve  had  under  his  orders,  not  even  a  Tour- 
ville  or  a  SufFren,  could  have  averted  defeat  at 
Trafalgar. 


vi  THE  ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

That  the  fortune  of  war  went  against  France 
and  Spain  on  that  day  takes  nothing  from  the 
heroism  and  devoted  gallantry  which  so  many 
officers  and  men  on  the  losing  side  displayed.  One 
side  must  get  the  worst  of  it  in  a  battle.  Nelson 
himself,  we  are  told,  as  he  approached  the  enemy 
that  morning,  "  frequently  remarked  that  they  put 
a  good  face  upon  it."  Captain  Blackwood,  who 
was  on  the  quarter-deck  of  the  "  Victory  "  as  the 
fleets  neared  one  another,  drew  Nelson's  attention 
to  "the  handsome  way  in  which  the  Battle  was 
offered  by  the  Enemy,  their  apparent  determina- 
tion for  a  fair  trial  of  strength."  "  The  Enemy," 
wrote  Blackwood  also,  in  a  letter  home,  "  awaited 
the  attack  of  the  British  with  a  coolness  I  was 
sorry  to  witness,  and  they  fought  in  a  way  that 
must  do  them  honour."  An  officer  of  the  "  Vic- 
tory," recording  his  impressions,  says :  "  They 
appeared  to  seek  the  action  with  as  much  con- 
fidence as  ourselves."  Said  CoUingwood :  "  It 
was  a  severe  action;  no  dodging  or  manoeuvring. 
They  formed  their  line  with  nicety,  and  waited 
our  attack  with  great  composure,  nor  did  they  fire 
a  gun  until  we  were  close  to  them."  CoUingwood 
also  said:  "The  enemy's  ships  were  fought  with 
a  gallantry  highly  honourable  to  their  officers." 
"All  our  enemies,"  notes  an  officer  of  the  "Prince," 
"  fought  with  the  greatest  obstinacy." 


PREFACE  vii 

Great  Britain,  France,  and  Spain  alike,  at  the 
present  time,  happily,  can  recall  Trafalgar  in  a 
spirit  impossible  heretofore.  One  can  hardly  con- 
ceive, indeed,  nowadays  the  state  of  feeling  that 
was  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world  to  our 
grandfathers  of  "  eighteen  hundred  and  war  time"; 
the  temper,  for  instance,  in  which,  during  the 
period  of  Wellington's  Army  of  Occupation, 
British  subalterns  used  to  swagger  about  the 
streets  in  the  towns  of  Northern  France,  and  in 
and  out  of  the  cafds,  humming,  in  the  hearing  of 
everybody,  a  peculiarly  offensive  camp-song  of  the 
hour,  the  refrain  of  which  ran — 

Lewis  Dix  Weet !     Lewis  Dix  Weet ! 

We've  wallop'd  your  army  and  lick'd  all  your  fleet ! 

We  have  another  standpoint  to-day :  we  take  in 
things  from  another  point  of  view.  As  the  then 
Prime  Minister — Mr.  Balfour — finely  said  at  the 
historic  dejeuner  to  the  officers  of  the  French  Fleet 
in  Westminster  Hall,  touching  on  the  historical 
associations  of  the  place  and  the  old-time  conflicts 
between  England  and  France:  "After  all,  what 
the  two  nations  forget  is  the  cause  of  their  differ- 
ences, and  what  they  remember  are  the  great 
deeds  of  heroism  which  have  rendered  both 
countries  illustrious."  There  we  are  on  common 
ground,  Briton  and  Frenchman  and  Spaniard  alike; 
each  has  personal  deeds  of  heroism  to  remember 


viii  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

in  common — and  particularly  in  regard  to  Trafal- 
gar. The  bitterness  is  now  long  since  past;  of 
laurel,  not  of  cypress,  are  our  memorial  wreaths — 

...  no  dirge's  plaintive  moan  ; 
Our  heroes  claim  far  loftier  tone — 
Oh,  proudly  should  the  war-song  swell. 
Recording  how  the  mighty  fell ! 

Special  recognition,  indeed,  is  due  from  us  of 
these  days  to  the  memory  of  the  enemy  at  Trafal- 
gar— as  a  point  of  honour.  The  example  was  set 
us  from  the  other  side,  by  the  gallant  successors 
of  those  who  in  fair  fight  faced  Nelson  and  his 
captains  that  October  Monday  afternoon  a  hun- 
dred years  ago,  and  did  all  that  brave  men  could 
for  the  credit  of  their  service  and  their  flag. 
Who  that  witnessed  it  can  ever  forget  that  touch- 
ing display  of  chivalry  on  the  afternoon  of  the 
10th  of  August,  1905,  when  Admiral  Caillard  and 
the  captains  of  the  French  Fleet,  then  at  Ports- 
mouth, passed  through  Trafalgar  Square  on  their 
way  to  be  the  guests  of  the  City  of  London  in 
the  Guildhall?  As  each  French  officer  came  abreast 
of  the  base  of  the  Nelson  Monument  he  turned  to- 
wards it  and,  raising  a  gloved  hand  to  his  cocked 
hat,  gravely,  and  with  the  finest  courtesy,  saluted 
the  national  memorial  to  Britain's  sailor  hero.  It 
was  done  very  simply,  very  quietly,  very  tactfully ; 
and  the  next  moment  the  column  had  been  passed. 


PREFACE  ix 

One  grey-headed  French  officer,  in  addition  to 
saluting,  rose  from  his  seat  in  one  of  the  carriages 
as  he  passed  the  monument,  and,  glancing  upward 
at  the  statue  of  Lord  Nelson,  raised  his  hat  with 
a  courtly  bow. 

The  British  Empire  can  appreciate  such  an  act, 
and  knows  how  to  requite  it  in  kind.  Where 
chivalrous  bearing  is  in  point  the  nation  does  not 
allow  itself  to  be  outdone.  On  the  day  of  the 
Nelson  centenary  celebration  there  was  hardly  a 
hamlet  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of 
England,  hardly  a  colonial  township  in  any  part  of 
the  world,  where  the  French  and  Spanish  national 
flags,  one  or  other,  often  both,  were  not  flown 
side  by  side  with  our  own  flag.  Wreaths  tied 
in  the  national  colours  of  France  and  Spain  and 
inscribed  to  the  memory  of  those  who  fought  on 
the  other  side — "  To  the  memory  of  the  gallant 
officers  and  men  of  France  and  Spain  who  died  for 
their  country  at  Trafalgar,"  ran  the  legend  on  one 
wreath — had  places  allotted  to  them  at  the  base  of 
the  Nelson  Monument  in  Trafalgar  Square  in  the 
display  of  memorial  tributes  in  honour  of  our  own 
chief.  Among  the  wreaths  to  the  memory  of 
those  who  fell  at  their  posts  facing  us  at  Trafalgar 
was  one  that  had  come  all  the  way  from  New 
Zealand.  And  on  that  night  when  the  officers  of 
the  "  Victory "  at  Portsmouth  met  at  their  own 

a  2 


X  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

commemorative  banquet,  the  toast  given  was  "  To 
the  memory  of  those  who  fought  and  fell,  whether 
friend  or  foe,  in  the  glorious  battle  of  a  hundred 
years  ago!"  All  rose  and  stood  with  bowed  heads, 
while  the  "  Victory's  "  buglers  sounded  the  "  Last 
Post,"  and  then  the  toast  was  drunk  in  solemn 
silence. 

This  book  offers  itself  as  a  tribute  in  its  way  to 
the  memory  of  those  who  fought  against  us  at 
Trafalgar,  whose  descendants  and  successors  in  the 
navies  of  France  and  Spain  are  our  good  friends 
to-day.  As  has  been  said,  we  ourselves  have  a 
special  interest  in  what  is  told  of  the  devotion 
and  heroism  displayed  on  the  side  of  the  enemy  in 
the  battle.  The  men  who  met  and  faced  Nelson 
on  the  21st  of  October,  1805,  proved  themselves  in 
fair  fight  foemen  worthy  of  our  steel ;  and  not  only 
as  a  complement  to  the  story  of  the  battle  from 
our  side,  of  which  every  one  knows  something, 
should  the  telling  of  their  gallantry  under  fire,  of 
what  they  did  and  endured,  prove  acceptable  to 
English  readers,  but  also  as  redounding  to  the 
credit  of  those — our  own  forefathers — who  got  the 
better  of  such  valiant  antagonists. 

My  plan  has  been,  as  far  as  possible,  to  describe 
the  enemy's  part  at  Trafalgar  in  the  words  of  eye- 
witnesses and  participants  in  the  battle  on  their 
side.     As  to  that,  I  think  I  am  justified  in  saying 


PREFACE  xi 

that  the  subject  is  dealt  with  fairly  and  fully, 
if  not,  indeed,  exhaustively. 

The  first  three  chapters  are  introductory  in  then- 
nature,  explanatory  of  the  events  that  led  up  to 
Trafalgar;  utilizing  largely  the  information  con- 
veyed in  the  despatches  that  passed  between 
Napoleon  and  his  Minister  of  Marine  and  Admiral 
Villeneuve.  They  describe  how  the  enemy  came 
to  be  there ;  Admiral  Villeneuve's  difficulties  and 
arrangements  for  the  battle ;  and  the  circum- 
stances in  which  his  plans  were  made.  Something 
then  follows  as  to  the  personality  of  the  admirals 
and  captains  who  faced  Nelson  on  the  occasion ; 
what  kind  of  men  they  were,  and  what  their 
countrymen  thought  of  them.  Next,  we  see  the 
enemy's  fleet  leaving  port  to  give  battle,  and  what 
passed  on  their  side  during  that  Sunday  night 
at  sea  between  Cape  Trafalgar  and  the  Straits  of 
Gibraltar. 

Then  we  have  the  fleets  in  presence  on  Monday 
morning:  Nelson  heading  for  the  enemy;  Ville- 
neuve attempting  to  regain  Cadiz  harbour.  A 
series  of  chapters  follow,  describing  what  took 
place  in  the  battle,  under  fire,  on  board  those  of 
the  French  ships  from  which  we  have  personal 
accounts ;  presenting  these  accounts  in  the  words 
(closely  translated)  of  the  officers  who  wrote  them, 
as  eye-witnesses  of  the  events. 


xii  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

Admiral  Villeneuve's  Trafalgar  despatch — which 
Napoleon  suppressed — ^relating  the  French  Com- 
mander-in-Chief's personal  experiences  up  to  the 
moment  of  his  capture,  appears  here  for  English 
readers  for  the  first  time.  Two  official  narratives — 
vigorously  told  and  full  of  striking  detail — follow, 
from  the  officers  of  the  "  Redoutable,"  the  "  Vic- 
tory's" special  antagonist  at  Trafalgar;  and,  in 
addition,  the  stories — related  personally — of  "  The 
man  who  shot  Nelson,"  and  of  "  The  Avenger  of 
Nelson."  The  experiences  of  French  officers  on 
board  other  ships  are  given,  each  describing  what 
his  own  ship  did  and  went  through. 

The  Spanish  accounts  of  Trafalgar  are  dealt 
with  in  exactly  the  same  way,  the  idea  throughout 
being  to  relate  events,  wherever  it  can  be  done,  as 
personal  experiences. 

On  that  comes  the  story  of  what  happened  in 
the  storm  after  the  battle,  and  the  fate  of  the  cap- 
tured ships,  as  told  by  some  of  those  who  sur- 
vived ;  also — from  contemporary  letters — what 
people  at  Cadiz  saw  of  the  battle,  and  the  scenes 
that  followed  in  that  city  and  along  the  coast.  A 
chapter  describes  how  the  Trafalgar  despatches 
reached  London  at  midnight,  and  the  reception  of 
the  news  there  and  throughout  England  :  and  also 
how  Napoleon  and  France  and  Spain  learned  of 
what  had  taken  place.     Lastly,  something  is  said 


PREFACE  xiii 

about  the  Trafalgar  prisoners  in  England  ;  and  the 
tragic  story  of  the  hapless  Admiral  Villeneuve's 
fate  one  April  night  at  an  inn  at  Rennes,  accord- 
ing to  the  ProceS'Verbal  drawn  up  for  Fouche, 
Napoleon's  Minister  of  Police. 

Among  the  illustrations  are  portraits  of  the 
leaders  of  the  enemy  at  Trafalgar,  Admirals  Ville- 
neuve  and  Gravina,  and  of  others  of  the  admirals 
and  some  of  the  hardest-lighting  of  the  captains ; 
also  a  set  of  views  of  the  battle  drawn  for  Captain 
Lucas  of  the  "  Redoutable,"  which  have  been 
photographed  by  permission  for  this  book  at  the 
Louvre.  Other  views  are  given,  and  pictures  of 
incidents  of  the  battle  from  the  Spanish  side, 
reproduced  from  paintings  on  the  walls  of  the 
naval  gallery  at  Madrid,  together  with  representa- 
tions of  various  personal  mementos  and  relics  of 
officers  who  met  their  fate  in  the  battle,  and  a 
sketch  of  Cape  Trafalgar  as  it  now  is. 

The  three  Appendices  comprise  documents  of 
peculiar  historic  interest  from  the  archives  of  the 
Ministry  of  Marine  in  Paris,  copied  from  the 
originals  for  this  book,  by  special  permission  of 
the  Minister  of  Marine.  They  comprise  Admiral 
Villeneuve's  "Fighting  Instructions"  to  his  cap- 
tains ;  the  exact  and  complete  text  of  Villeneuve's 
"  Compte  Rendu,''  or  official  report  on  Trafalgar, 
written   by  him  while   on  the  way  to   England 


xiv  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

as  a  prisoner  of  war ;  and  the  French  official  plan 
of  Trafalgar,  drawn  by  the  captain  of  the  French 
flagship  "  Bucentaure  "  three  days  after  the  battle, 
a  document  of  special  historic  interest  and  value  in 
reference  to  the  recent  controversy  on  "  Nelson's 
Tactics  at  Trafalgar." 

I  desire  to  express  my  thanks,  for  assistance 
cordially  given,  to  M.  Thomson,  the  present 
Minister  of  Marine  in  France,  and  to  M.  Destrem, 
the  Curator  of  the  Musee  de  la  Marine  at  the 
Louvre,  for  his  most  kind  offices  on  my  behalf; 
also  to  M.  Marc  Dormoy,  for  his  tireless  and 
invaluable  help. 

In  conclusion  I  would  say  that  I  have  considered 
the  writing  of  this  story  of  Trafalgar  from  the 
other  side  a  privilege,  as  offering  an  opportunity 
of  rendering  homage  on  the  part  of  an  English- 
man to  the  gallantry  and  devotion  of  valiant 
and  worthy  foes,  and  I  trust  that,  whatever  the 
shortcomings  of  my  attempt  may  be,  the  book  will 
be  found  acceptable  by  all  into  whose  hands  it 

may  come. 

E.F. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I.  Why  the  French  Fleet  went  to  Cadiz 


PACE 

1 


II.  Coming  Events  cast  their  Shadows  before  .  23 

III.  The  Council  of  War  and  the  Order  to  weigh 

Anchor  .  .  .  .         .  45 

IV.  Admirals  and  Captains  of  the  Combined  Fleet   .  68 


V.  The  Night  before  the  Battle 
VI.  Nelson  in  Sight — Monday  Morning 
VII.  The  Eagle  of  the  "Bucentaure" 
VIII.  How  THE  Battle  shaped  Itself 
IX.  Villeneuve's  Trafalgar  Despatch 
X.  Final  Scenes  on  board  the  "Bucentaure" 


.  81 
.  97 
.  114 
.  118 
.  128 
.  136 


XI.  How  the  "Redoutable"  fought  to  a  Finish       .  145 


XII.  "The  Man  who  shot  Nelson" 
XIII.  Admiral  Magon  and  his  Fate 


.  179 
.  184 


XIV.  How  THE  "Intrepide"  turned  back  to  save  the 

Admiral  .  .  ...  189 


xvi  THE  ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XV.  Others  that  deserved  well  of  France     .         .  202 

XVI.  A  Master-at-Arms'  Experiences     .  .         .211 

XVII.  Jeannette  of  the  "Achille"  .  .         .219 

XVIII.  H.M.S.  "Implacable"    .  .  .         .     228 

XIX.  Gravina  and  Alava  and  their  Flagships         .     242 

XX.  The  "Santisima  Trinidad"  at  Bay  .         .     260 

XXI.  How  "El  Gran  Churruca"  faced  his  Fate  .     274 

XXII.  Captains  whom  Spain  remembers  with  Pride  .     287 

XXIII.  The  Victims  of  the  Storm  .  .         .     297 

XXIV.  The  Last  Hours  of  the  "Santisima  Trinidad"     314 
XXV.  What  they  heard  and  saw  at  Cadiz      .         .     325 

XXVI.  How  the  News  reached  England — and  Napoleon   342 

XXVII.  \m  Victis: — The  Hulks  and  the  Tragedy  of 

Rennes         .  .  .  .         .     376 

XXVIII.  Since  Trafalgar  .  .  .         .     408 

APPENDICES 

A.  Admiral  Villeneuve's  Memorandum  .         .417 

B.  Admiral  Villeneuve's  Official  Report    .         .     420 

C.  Captain  Magendie's  Plans  of  Trafalgar  .     426 

Index  .  .  .  ...     433 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


At  Portsmouth :  August,  1905.     The  "  Victory "  welcoming  the 


Frontispiece 


French  flagship 

Camp  of  the  Grand  Army  at  Boulogne 

Boulogne  harbour  and  the  invasion  flotilla 

Vice-Admiral  Villeneuve  . 

Admiral  Gravina 

Cosmao-Kerjulien  of  the  **  Pluton  " 

Cayetano  Valdez  of  the  "Neptuno" 

Captain  Blackwood  of  the  "Euryalus" 

Nelson 

Opening  of  the  attack  at  Trafalgar 

The  ♦♦  Bucentaure"  and  "  Redoutable"  firing  on  the  "Victory" 
The  '* Redoutable"  grappled  by  the  "Victory" 
The  "  Redoutable  "  on  the  evening  before  she  went  down  . 
The  "Redoutable"  fighting  the  "Victory"  and  the  "T^m^raire 
Captain  Lucas  of  the  "  Redoutable  "  .  .  . 

Rear-Admiral  Magon         ..... 
H.M.S.  "Defiance"  dealing  the  French  74  "L'Aigle"  her  coup- 
de-grace        .... 
The  last  hours  of  the  "Santisima  Trinidad" 
Our  only  Trafalgar  prize  left— H. M.S.  "  Implacable  "  at  Devonport    228 
The  "Santa  Ana"  at  bay  .  .  ...     252 

Model  of  the  Trafalgar  "  Santa  Ana"  at  the  Museo  Naval,  Madrid     ib. 


PACING  PAGB 
6 


ib. 
40 
ib. 
74 
ib. 
84 
ib. 
112 

150 
ib. 
ib. 
164 
176 
ib. 


206 
214 


XVlll 


THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 


Rear- Admiral  Cisneros 
Vice-Admiral  de  Alava     . 
Commodore  Galiano  • 

Commodore  Churruca 
Prison  hulks  at  Portsmouth  in  1806 
Dartmoor  war  prison  gateway 


FACING  PAGE 

258 
ib. 


ib. 

392 

ib. 


IN  THE  TEXT 

Map — Opening  moves  of  the  Trafalgar  campaign,  1 805   facing  page 
Indiamen  moored  across  the  Thames  below  Gravesend  to  bar  the 

approach  to  London    .... 
Napoleon's  medal  to  commemorate  the  Conquest  of  England 
Arms  of  Villeneuve  .... 

Captain  :  French  Navy,  1805 
Captain  :  Spanish  Navy,  1805 
On  board  the  •'  Redoutable":  French  36-poundcr  on  the  lower  deck 
Plan  of  the  attack  at  Trafalgar,   enclosed  with   Collingwood's 

despatches    . 


Spanish  plans  of  the  opening  attack  at 

development  of  the  battle 
Signature  of  Admiral  Villeneuve 
The  Trafalgar  trophy  swords 
Signature  of  Captain  Magendie 
Midshipman  :  French  Navy,  1805    . 
Signature  of  Captain  Lucas 
Captain  Lucas'  seal 
Signature  of  Captain  Infernet 
Signature  of  Captain  Cosmao 
French  man-of-war's  man,  1805 
Captain  Hardy's  pencil  case 


Trafalgar  and  after 


75 

79 


107 

125 
133 
143 
144 
163 
173 
177 
190 
202 
215 
232 


ILLUSTRATIONS  xix 


Signature  of  Admiral  Gravina          .               .  ...  94S 

Admiral  Gravina's  Trafalgar  sword  and  cocked  hat  .            .        .  248 

Signature  of  Admiral  Alava              .                .  ...  257 

36-pounder  bar-shot,  fired  by  the  "Santisima  Trinidad"  into  the 

"Victory"    .               .               .               .  ...  267 

Signature  of  Commodore  Churruca  .               .  ...  275 

Signature  of  Conmiodore  Galiano    .               .  ...  288 

Signature  of  Captain  Valdez             .               .  ...  291 

Cape  Trafalgar    .               .               .               .  ...  336 

Torre  de  Castilobo              .               .               .  ...  337 

Lieut  Lapenoti^re                                            .  ...  349 

Gravina's  tomb  in  the  Panteon  de  Marines  lUustres  .  .        .411 

Appendix 

Plan  showing  how  the  "  Bucentaure "  was  cut  oflF 
Captain  Lucas'  plan  of  the  attack 
Captain  Magendie's  plan  of  Nelson's  advance 
Plan  from  **  Nelson :  The  Centenary  of  Trafalgar  " 


'A 


CHAPTER  I 

WHY   THE   FRENCH   FLEET   WENT 
TO   CADIZ 

rpHIS  is  a  general  summary  of  the  events  that 
-*-  led  up  to  Trafalgar  : — how  the  battle  came  to 
be  fought. 

Trafalgar  was  Great  Britain's  answer  to  the 
challenge  of  Napoleon's  great  invasion  scheme 
and  the  "Armee  d'Angleterre " ;  Great  Britain's 
retort  and  counterstroke. 

Napoleon,  in  point  of  fact,  of  course,  had  broken 
up  his  camp  on  the  heights  above  Boulogne  and 
marched  his  soldiers  off  for  the  Austrian  frontier 
seven  weeks  before  that  fateful  Monday  afternoon 
off  Cape  Trafalgar ;  but  the  idea  of  trying  again 
at  another  time  had  not  passed  from  his  mind. 
His  plan  of  campaign  had  miscarried  for  the 
present,  that  was  all ;  there  were  other  years  to 
come.  He  left  the  Chateau  at  Pont-de-Briques 
on  the  1st  of  September,  1805,  confidently  ex- 
pecting to  return  there  another  time.  He  left 
strict  orders  for  the  vessels  of  the  invasion-flotilla 
to  be  looked  after  carefully,  and  in  the  same 
memorandum    stated    explicitly    that    the    great 


2  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

scheme  would  be  taken  up  again.  Just  before 
this  he  had  written  to  Eugene :  "  Je  vais  donner 
une  bonne  le^on  a  FAutriche,  et  apres,  je  revien- 
drai  a  mes  projets."  Less  than  a  week  before 
Trafalgar  was  fought,  as  the  last  of  his  out- 
lying divisions  swung  into  line  and  linked  up 
with  the  rest  to  close  in  on  the  doomed  Austrian 
army  at  Ulm,  Napoleon  declared  in  an  order  of 
the  day:  "Soldats,  sans  cette  armee  que  vous 
avez  devant  vous,  nous  serions  aujourd'hui  a 
Londres;  nous  eussions  venge  six  siecles  d'out- 
rages,  et  rendu  la  liberte  aux  mers."  "I  want 
nothing  further  on  the  Continent,"  he  said  to 
the  Austrian  generals,  when  they  came  to  sur- 
render their  swords  to  him  on  that  Sunday  morn- 
ing before  the  gates  of  Ulm,  on  the  very  day 
before  Trafalgar,  "  I  want  nothing  further  on  the 
Continent:  I  want  ships,  colonies,  and  com- 
merce ! "  His  only  way  to  what  he  wanted  lay 
along  the  London  Road,  past  the  homesteads  of 
Kent  and  Sussex ;  and  the  only  chance  Napoleon 
had  of  setting  foot  across  the  Channel  was  bound 
up  with  the  fortunes  of  the  fleet  that  met  Nelson 
off  Trafalgar.  The  hope  for  the  one  went  down 
with  the  fate  of  the  other.  The  grenadiers  of 
Austerlitz  might  well  have  passed  the  summer 
of  1806  under  canvas  at  Boulogne,  had  it  not  been 
for  Trafalgar.  The  naval  force  that  Nelson  shat- 
tered at  Trafalgar  had  been  designed  as  the  starting 
lever,  as  it  were,   the   mainspring  of  Napoleon's 


ALL   DEPENDED   ON   VILLENEUVE  3 

whole  combination.  On  it  Napoleon  had  relied 
to  give  him  that  command  of  the  sea  which  was 
"  all  he  wanted,"  so  he  himself  said,  "  to  decide 
the  fate  of  Great  Britain  for  ever."  It  was  "in 
being"  until  the  fate  of  the  day  at  Trafalgar 
had  been  decided.  With  its  defeat,  everything 
fell  to  pieces  irrecoverably.  Trafalgar  destroyed 
the  instrument  by  the  aid  of  which  Napoleon  had 
designed  to  accomplish  his  purpose,  his  only  avail- 
able means  for  the  attempt.  C alder  frightened 
the  snake  and  bruised  it  after  a  fashion ;  Nelson 
killed  it  outright.  To  put  the  situation  in  a 
homely  way:  the  mad  dog  was  still  about  the 
village — Nelson  shot  it  dead. 

The  entire  position  turned  on  the  arrival  of 
Admiral  Villeneuve,  at  the  head  of  forty  and 
more  sail  of  the  line,  made  up  of  the  French 
Toulon  and  Rochefort  fleets  and  some  other  ships 
at  Corunna,  with  the  pick  of  the  Spanish  navy 
from  Cartagena,  Cadiz,  and  Ferrol,  in  the  English 
Channel  in  August,  1805.  His  advent  was  to  be 
a  surprise,  after — as  Napoleon  confidently  antici- 
pated— great  part  of  the  British  Fleet  in  European 
waters  had  been  drawn  off  elsewhere  to  search  for 
him,  owing  to  the  general  alarm  that,  the  Emperor 
calculated,  Villeneuve's  departure  from  Toulon  and 
disappearance  into  the  Atlantic  must  inevitably 
cause.  Villeneuve  was  to  plan  things,  in  the  first 
place,  so  as  to  give  Nelson  the  slip  and  pass  the 
Straits  of  Gibraltar  unobserved.      Then  he  was 


I 


4  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

to  cross  the  ocean  to  the  West  Indies,  join  the 
Rochefort  squadron  there,  and  raid  certain  of  the 
islands.^  Returning  suddenly,  he  would  concen- 
trate quietly  off  Ferrol  and  then  head  north  in 
force  to  raise  the  blockade  of  Brest  and  join  hands 
with  the  powerful  fleet  of  twenty-two  sail  of  the 
line  there — six  three-deckers,  nine  eighty-gun  ships, 
and  seven  seventy -fours.  After  that  Admiral 
Villeneuve  with  the  united  armada  in  resistless 
array  was  to  "  balayer  la  Manche "  (Napoleon's 
own  phrase)  and  make  for  the  Straits  of  Dover; 
to  stand  on  guard  there  while  Napoleon  himself, 
with  Soult  and  Ney,  Murat,  Massena,  Davout, 
Lannes,  and  Marmont,  and  six  army  corps,  160,000 
men  of  all  arms,  Imperial  Guard,  infantry,  12,000 
cavalry,  and  8,000  dragoons  (to  be  mounted  in 
England),  15,000  horses,  and  450  guns,  crossed 
over  from  Boulogne  to  the  coast  of  Kent  in  the 
2,280  odd  "praams"  and  armed  transports  that  had 
been  specially  built  and  equipped  along  the  coast 
between   Dieppe  and   Dunkirk,   for  the  passage 

^  He  was  to  "  do  the  English  all  the  harm  he  could  "  in  the  West 
Indies.  "  Let  him  take  St.  Vincent,  Antigua,  Grenada,  and  why  not 
Barbados.'*"  wrote  Napoleon  to  Decres.  "I  leave  it  to  you  to  send 
orders  to  retake  Tobago  and  Trinidad."  He  would  thus,  the  Emperor 
anticipated,  ''  keep  the  English  in  perpetual  alarm  and  strike  them 
unexpected  blows."  At  the  same  time  a  false  alarm  about  India  was  to 
be  spread.  "  Let  it  be  inserted  in  the  '  Moniteur,' "  added  Napoleon, 
"that  great  news  has  arrived  from  India,  that  the  despatches  have 
been  forwarded  to  the  Emperor,  that  the  contents  have  not  transpired, 
but  that  everything  goes  badly  for  the  English."  Five  thousand  troops 
of  all  arms  were  on  board  the  French  Fleet,  and  there  were  Spanish 
troops  on  board  the  Spanish  ships. 


«IF  WE   HAVE  THE   POWER   OF   CROSSING!"     5 

over.  "  The  English,"  said  Napoleon,  "  know  not 
what  awaits  them !  If  we  have  the  power  of 
crossing  but  for  twelve  hours,  Great  Britain  is 
no  more  ! "  "  Votre  passage  seul  nous  rends,  sans 
chances,  maitres  de  I'Angleterre,"  he  wrote,  in 
a  letter  sent  to  await  Admiral  Villeneuve's  ar- 
rival at  Brest.  "  If  you  run  up  here,  if  only  for 
twenty-four  hours,  your  mission  will  be  accom- 
plished. The  English  are  not  so  numerous  as  you 
think.  They  are  ever5rNvhere  detained  by  the  wind. 
Never  will  a  squadron  have  run  a  few  risks  for 
so  great  an  end,  and  never  will  our  soldiers  have 
had  the  chance  on  land  or  sea  of  shedding  their 
blood  for  a  grander  or  nobler  result.  For  the 
great  object  of  aiding  a  descent  on  the  power 
which  for  six  centuries  has  oppressed  France,  we 
ought  all  to  die  without  regret  1"  Admiral  Decr^s, 
the  Minister  of  Marine  and  a  very  old  friend  of 
Villeneuve's,  added  what  incitement  he  could. 
"  On  your  success  in  arriving  before  Boulogne,  the 
destiny  of  the  world  depends.  Happy  the  ad- 
miral who  shall  have  the  glory  of  so  memorable 
an  achievement  attached  to  his  name." 

All  was  ready.  Napoleon  only  waited  for  Ville- 
neuve  to  arrive.  According  to  the  news  that 
reached  London  in  the  second  week  of  August, 
1805,  the  "  Grand  Army  "  at  Boulogne  was  daily 
rehearsing  the  details  of  its  proposed  descent.  Its 
powder  and  shot,  artillery  and  commissariat  stores, 
and  other  war-munitions  of  every  sort — to  quote 


6  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

Jomini's  figures  ;  14,000,000  cartridges,  90,000 
rounds  for  the  artillery,  32,000  reserve  muskets, 
1,300,000  musket  flints,  1,500,000  rations  of  bis- 
cuit, 30,000  details  of  engineer  equipment,  11,000 
spare  saddles  and  sets  of  harness — had  for  some 
time  past,  it  was  stated,  been  stowed  on  board 
the  vessels  of  the  invasion  flotilla.  Every  bat- 
talion, every  company,  had  been  allotted  to  its 
boats,  and  the  soldiers,  to  the  drummer  boys,  told 
off  to  the  very  seats  in  each  transport,  or  "  flat- 
bottom,"  that  they  were  to  occupy.  In  such  de- 
tail, according  to  the  reports  that  reached  the 
British  Government  from  Pitt's  secret  -  service 
agents  abroad,  were  the  rehearsal  parades  being 
carried  out,  that  the  troops  marched  on  board 
every  time  with  all  the  exultation  of  men  actually 
on  the  way  to  the  front,  believing  as  they  cheered 
"Vive  I'Empereur!"  that  the  appointed  moment 
had  really  come  for  the  "Descente  en  Angleterre"! 
Not  one  detail  was  omitted.  First,  there  was  the 
signal  gun  for  all  to  "  fall  in  ";  then  a  second  gun, 
for  generals  and  the  staff*  to  take  post ;  then  the 
third  gun,  "  Prepare  to  embark  " ;  finally,  the  gim 
to  march  on  board  and  take  seats.  It  had  been 
found  possible,  it  was  reported,  to  ship  the  ad- 
vance-guard of  25,000  picked  men  in  less  than 
ten  and  a  half  minutes  ;  and  it  had  taken  less 
than  thirteen  to  disembark  them  all  in  the  attack 
formation  in  which  they  were  to  land  on  Walmer 
beach.     Within  an  hour  and  a  half  from  the  beat- 


THREE   WEEKS   WOULD   SUFFICE  7 

ing  of  the  Generate,  every  man  and  horse  was  on 
board.  Bonaparte  himself  was  on  the  spot  from 
noon  to  night,  riding  about  on  his  famous  charger, 
Marengo,  inflaming  the  zeal  of  every  corps  in  turn, 
Voltigeurs  and  smart  Chasseurs,  Premiere  Legere, 
Garde  Imperiale,  and  the  rest.  He  "only  wanted," 
declared  Napoleon,  "  to  be  master  of  the  sea  for 
six  hours  to  terminate  the  existence  of  England." 
After  that,  all  he  asked  for  was  "trois  semaines 
pour  operer  la  descente,  entrer  dans  Londres,  miner 
les  chantiers,  et  detruire  les  arsenaux  de  Ports- 
mouth et  Plymouth."  A  three  weeks'  stay  in 
England  would  suffice,  the  Emperor  reckoned, 
for  all  he  wanted  to  do.  Then  he  would  recross 
the  Straits,  and  march  on  Vienna.  "  Bah  ! "  said 
Massena  curtly,  when  in  later  years  somebody 
questioned  in  the  old  marshal's  presence  whether 
Napoleon  had  seriously  intended  the  conquest  of 
Great  Britain  ;  "  Bah  !  la  conquerir — personne  n'y 
songea :  il  s'agissait  seulement  de  la  miner ;  de  la 
laissait  dans  un  etat  tel  que  personne  n'en  aurait 
convoite  la  possession ! " 

At  Boulogne,  all  through  that  month  of  August, 
1805,  look-out  men  watched  by  day  and  night 
for  the  coming  of  the  French  Fleet;  as  others 
were  doing  from  forty  signal-stations  along  the 
coast  between  Havre  and  the  Texel.  Morning 
after  morning.  Napoleon  himself  rode  off*  from 
his  "  barraque  "  beside  the  Tour  de  I'Ordre,  along 
the   cliffs   to   northward   of   Boulogne,   or   along 


8  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

the  sands,  to  scan  the  seaward  horizon  with  his 
spyglass  for  the  gUnt  of  Villeneuve's  topsails  in 
the  south-west. 

On  this  side  the  Channel  at  the  same  time  the 
excitement  was  at  fever  heat.  All  England  was 
on  tenter -hooks  of  anxiety  and  expectation. 
Great  Britain,  during  August,  1805,  was  one  vast 
camp: — regulars,    yeomanry,    and    mihtia    under 


INDIASIEN   MOORED   ACROSS  THE  THAMES   BELOW  6RAVESEND 

TO   BAR  THE   APPROACH   TO   LONDON 

IFrom  a  print  of  1805] 

canvas  near  the  coast ;  volunteers  inland,  nearly 
four  hundred  thousand  of  them.  Every  little 
country  town,  every  village,  had  its  "Armed 
Association,"  who  kept  their  arms — Government 
muskets,  or  often  only  pikes — during  the  week 
in  the  old  church  tower,  and  zealously  drilled 
every  Sunday  after  service.  Across  the  mouth 
of  the  Thames  a  number  of  old  ships,  India- 
men,  were  turned  into  "floating  batteries"  with 
twenty-four-pounders  mounted  on  one  broadside, 


ALL   ENGLAND    UNDER   ARMS  9 

and  anchored  near  Tilbury,  to  form  a  barrier 
against  an  enemy  working  up  towards  London 
by  river. 

Heavily  armed  flanking  batteries  were  thrown 
up  on  either  side  of  the  river  to  assist  in  the 
defence;  while  wide  military  roads  were  constructed 
north  and  south  of  the  Thames  between  Tilbury 
and  the  two  great  camps  on  Warley  Common  in 
Essex  and  at  Coxheath  near  Maidstone,  to  faciUtate 
the  rapid  concentration  of  troops  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. Along  the  South  Coast,  between  seventy 
and  eighty  martello  towers — some  of  which  are  still 
standing — were  being  hastened  on  with  and  nearing 
completion ;  each  tower  being  built  to  carry  one 
heavy  gun,  mounted  so  as  to  fire  in  any  direction. 
In  Romney  Marsh  an  army  of  labourers  was  at 
work,  digging  out  the  zigzags  of  the  still  existing 
military  canal  from  Hythe  to  Rye;  which,  with  its 
covering  earthworks  and  bastions  and  redoubts,  was 
to  form  an  integral  part  of  the  grand  scheme  of 
national  defence.  Every  little  seaport  had  its  local 
detachment  of  Sea  Fencibles,  fishermen  enrolled 
for  coast  defence,  in  improvised  gunboats — their 
own  craft  with  a  six-pounder  mounted  in  the  bows. 

Throughout  the  seaboard  counties  from  the 
Tamar  to  the  Tyne,  within  twenty  miles  of  the 
sea,  the  farm  carts  were  everywhere  allotted  for 
carrying  the  women  and  children  under  nine,  and 
the  infirm  and  aged,  inland  on  the  landing  of  the 
enemy.     Benches  and  seats  were  kept  stacked  in 


IQ  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

farm  buildings  near  at  hand  to  the  places  of 
rendezvous,  ready  to  be  fixed  in  the  carts ;  and 
the  village  constables  and  beadles  were  told  off  to 
collect  the  people  at  the  first  alarm.  Horses  and 
cattle  and  sheep  were  to  be  driven  inland,  or  have 
their  throats  cut.  The  local  clergy  had  instructions 
to  see  the  carts  with  the  people  start ;  after  which 
they  were  to  go  round  and  see  to  the  destruction 
of  all  property  in  their  parishes  that  could  not  be 
removed.  Most  of  the  churches  in  the  Kent  and 
Sussex  Weald  had  fire  cressets  set  up  on  their 
towers,  as  local  alarm  and  rallying  centres.  Huge 
beacons  were  set  up  on  every  headland  along  the 
coast;  with  corresponding  beacons  on  the  higher 
hills  inland,  to  carry  the  news  of  a  landing  quickly 
throughout  the  country.  "  The  day  signal  for  an 
enemy,"  says  a  newspaper  paragraph,  "is  an  amazing 
large  heap  of  rubbish  to  smoke  when  set  on  fire ; 
and  the  night  signal  is  faggot  to  blaze."  During 
August,  1805,  few  people  went  to  bed  without  first 
pulling  aside  the  bhnds  and  casting  an  anxious  glance 
in  the  direction  of  the  nearest  beacon.  At  the  same 
time,  in  certain  out-of-the-way  parts  along  the  coast, 
to  strike  a  light  within  sight  of  the  sea  after  dark 
was  an  indictable  offence — lest  by  that  means  a 
signal  might  be  made  to  an  enemy  in  the  offing.^ 

1  Both  in  London  and  Paris,  during  the  summer  and  autumn  of 
1806,  it  is  a  little  curious  by  the  way,  the  most  popular  entertain- 
ments were  panoramas  of  the  Camp  of  Boulogne.  That  in  London 
was  painted  by  Serres  and  on  show  in  Spring  Gardens ;  that  in  Paris 
was  by  MM.  Hue  and  Prevot,  and  its  details,  we  are  told,  were  so 
life-like  "qu'ils  firent  courir  tout  Paris." 


HELD   IN   CHECK  11 

There  are  people  still  alive  in  some  of  the  remoter 
districts  of  Kent  and  Sussex  who  can  remember 
having  heard  their  parents  describe  in  all  serious- 
ness the  intense  anxiety  that  the  mere  mention  of 
the  name  "Boney"  would  arouse  all  over  the 
countryside  among  young  and  old  alike ;  and  there 
are  many  parts  of  the  country,  both  in  the  Southern 
counties  and  along  the  East  Coast,  where  to  this 
day  one  comes  across  strangely  sounding  place- 
names  such  as  "Beacon  Hill,"  or  "The  Beacon," 
"Barrack  Field,"  or  "Barrack  Lane,"  "The  Butts," 
"Camp  Field,"  "Artillery  Lane,"  "Magazine 
Field,"  and  so  on,  which  owe  their  origin  to  the 
invasion  menace  of  1805. 

To  hold  the  enemy  in  check  at  the  danger  point 
and  keep  watch  and  ward  over  the  invasion-flotilla 
and  its  movements  in  the  Narrow  Seas,  a  spe- 
cially constituted  home-guard  force,  "the  Downs 
Squadron,"  patrolled  the  coast  of  Holland  and 
France  between  Ostend  and  the  mouth  of  the 
Seine.  It  comprised  four  ships  of  the  line,  five 
fifty-gun  ships,  nine  frigates,  twelve  sloops,  and 
twelve  bomb-vessels,  besides  eight  or  ten  gun- 
brigs  and  some  armed  cutters  and  luggers. 
Whenever  the  French  "praams"  and  light  craft 
came  out  and  tried  to  creep  along  coastwise,  under 
cover  of  the  shore  batteries,  towards  their  various 
rendezvous  or  points  of  concentration,  they  had  to 
fight  their  way  ;  and  for  the  most  part  were  either 


12  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

turned  back  or  forced  to  run  ashore  and  blow 
themselves  up.  The  Channel  Fleet,  meanwhile, 
under  Admu*al  Comwallis,  held  the  powerful 
Brest  Fleet  fast  m  port,  unable  to  stir,  unable 
in  effect  to  show  a  bowsprit  outside  St.  Matthew's 
Point,  or  to  send  even  a  boat  beyond  gunshot 
of  the  batteries  above  Bertheaume  Bay.  Atlantic 
storms  might  burst  in  all  their  fury  on  the  ships  of 
the  blockading  fleet ;  imperturbable  and  ever  tire- 
less, CornwalHs  stolidly  worked  off  seaward  for 
a  few  leagues,  so  as  to  keep  well  clear  of  Ushant 
and  the  outlying  islets  that  fringe  the  Breton  main- 
land; after  which,  as  the  wind  came  easterly 
again,  his  ships  would  reappear  and  resume  their 
dogged  beat  to  and  fro  off  Black  Rocks,  on 
sentry-go  by  night  and  day,  week  after  week, 
until  the  next  storm.  Evasion  was  impossible: 
Admiral  Ganteaume  and  his  twenty  odd  sail  of 
the  line  had  to  remain  where  they  were,  with 
anchors  down. 

Villeneuve's  business  was  to  set  the  Brest  Fleet 
free,  to  raise  the  blockade  and  join  hands  with 
Admiral  Ganteaume.  That  he  could  only  do  by 
appearing  off  the  port  in  force  and  compelling 
Comwallis  to  withdraw. 

At  the  critical  moment,  however,  Admiral 
Villeneuve,  to  whose  hands,  as  Napoleon  said, 
"  the  destiny  of  France "  had  been  committed, 
declined  to  take  the  supreme  risk.  At  the  outset 
he  had  managed  to  evade  Nelson  in  the  Mediter- 


''SIMPLY  COURTING   DESTRUCTION"  13 

ranean,  and  had  brought  out  successfully  most 
of  the  Spanish  Fleet  at  Cadiz.  After  that 
Villeneuve  had  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  the  West 
Indies  without  needing  to  fire  a  shot,  and  had 
returned  thence  off  the  north  coast  of  Spain ; 
carrying  out  his  part  of  the  general  scheme  so 
far  according  to  his  orders.  He  had  next  to 
enter  the  danger  zone :  but  at  that  point  he  held 
back.  The  tremendous  risk  of  the  venture 
immediately  ahead  proved  too  much  for  him. 
After  an  indecisive  engagement  off  Cape  Finis- 
terre  with  a  force  detached  from  the  Channel 
Fleet  under  Admiral  Calder,  in  which  he  lost  two 
ships,  and  a  brief  stay  at  Vigo  and  Corunna, 
Villeneuve  turned  off  south.  That  the  British 
Admiralty  had  not  done  what  Napoleon  antici- 
pated, had  not  scattered  their  squadrons,  and  that 
they  had  retained  an  ample  force  to  deal  with 
Villeneuve  between  Finisterre  and  Brest,  is  another 
matter: — Admiral  Villeneuve,  for  reasons  of  his 
own,  did  not  think  it  advisable  to  go  north. 

It  seemed  to  him,  in  the  circumstances,  simply 
courting  destruction.  His  command,  he  reported 
to  Paris  from  Vigo,  was  absolutely  incapable  of 
making  the  attempt.  He  had  met  with  bad 
weather  in  recrossing  the  Atlantic,  he  wrote,  con- 
trary winds  and  storms,  and  the  ships  of  the 
Combined  Fleet  had  suffered  severely.  His  own 
flagship,  the  "  Bucentaure,"  had  been  struck  by 
lightning,   and   had   been   badly  damaged.      The 


14  THE  ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

Toulon  ships,  he  complained,  had  been  sent  to  sea 
with  "  bad  masts,  bad  sails,  bad  rigging."  Those 
of  his  allies  ought  never  to  have  left  Cadiz.  In 
the  state  in  which  they  had  been  sent  to  sea  they 
added  nothing  to  his  strength.  Sickness — scurvy 
and  dysentery — was  rife  :  there  was  not  a  ship 
in  the  fleet  that  had  fewer  than  sixty  sick  on 
board.  Most  of  them  had  more.  The  "Argo- 
naute  "  had  a  hundred  and  fifty  sick;  the  "Achille," 
two  hundred.  Only  his  extreme  necessity — "  une 
necessite  imperieuse  et  irresistible" — had  forced 
him  into  Vigo,  and  there  he  found  his  hands  tied 
by  the  Emperor's  own  orders.  Vigo  had  no  re- 
sources of  use  to  a  fleet,  and  he  was  expressly 
forbidden  to  go  to  Ferrol  dockyard,  because  the 
port  there  was  a  difficult  one,  except  with  the 
wind  in  a  particular  quarter,  to  get  away  from. 
At  Corunna,  whither  he  was  ordered  to  proceed 
instead,  there  was  nothing:  not  even  faciUty  for 
landing  the  sick.  Never,  wrote  Villeneuve  bitterly, 
had  an  admiral  to  deal  with  such  a  situation — "  il 
est  affreux ! "  He  had  done  all  he  could,  he  said, 
and  was  doing  so,  but  he  was  hopeless  of  success. 
Admiral  Gravina,  his  Spanish  coadjutor,  gave  him 
every  assistance  in  his  power ;  but  he  agreed  as  to 
their  prospects.  Villeneuve  had  also  to  find  fault 
with  his  captains.  They  were,  he  said,  far  from 
being  really  efficient.  They  were  brave  and 
willing,  but  without  any  training  in  the  kind  of 
fighting  they  had  to  expect.  They  could  form  an 
order  of  battle  in  the  ordinary  regulation  way. 


NO  TIME   FOR   TACTICS   OR   GUNNERY  15 

single  line  ahead,  and  keep  station ;  but  that  was 
all  most  of  them  were  capable  of.  The  French 
system  of  naval  tactics,  indeed,  was  out  of  date,  it 
simply  played  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy ;  and 
he  had  neither  the  means  nor  the  time  to  teach 
his  officers  other  tactics.^  As  to  that,  Admiral 
Villeneuve's  complaints  might  seem  also  to  tell 
against  himself,  to  cut  both  ways.  He  had  had 
most  of  the  French  ships  then  in  his  fleet,  under 
his  orders  for  upwards  of  ten  months.  But  in  all 
that  time  he  had  had,  as  a  fact,  next  to  no  oppor- 
tunities of  exercising  the  fleet.  At  Toulon  at 
the  outset,  held  fast  in  port  by  Nelson's  ceaseless 
patrol  outside,  nothing  had  been  possible  beyond 
spar  and  sail  drill  at  anchor  and  gun  drill  with 
blank  cartridge.  His  cruise  to  the  West  Indies 
had  been  a  race  against  time.  In  the  West  Indies 
there  had  been  much  to  do,  with  everybody  on 
tenter-hooks  as  to  Nelson's  appearance  in  pursuit. 
The  return  voyage  had  been  made  under  full  sail, 
looking  anxiously  astern  every  hour  for  the  enemy's 
topsails  on  the  horizon.     Having  to  husband  his 

^  The  French  captains^  of  course,  were  to  a  large  extent  the  victims 
of  fate,  victims  of  the  fortune  of  war.  Blockaded  in  port  everywhere, 
from  year's  end  to  year's  end,  by  the  superior  forces  at  all  points  of  the 
British  Navy,  they  could  at  best  be  only,  as  Villeneuve  himself  put  it, 
"harbour  trained."  They  were  then  called  to  face  men  "trained  to 
storms,"  inured  to  sea-keeping  in  all  weathers,  matchless  in  their 
knowledge  of  practical  seacraft  under  all  conditions.  The  British 
Navy  had  in  effect  carried  out  the  plan  that  Pericles  of  old  laid  down 
for  dealing  with  the  enemies  of  Athens :  "  If  they  are  kept  off  the 
sea  by  our  superior  strength,  their  want  of  practice  will  make  them 
unskilful  and  their  want  of  skill,  timid." 


16  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

ammunition  against  the  expected  day  of  battle 
had  effectually  prevented  gunnery  practice  at  sea. 
Such  was  the  position  in  which  the  French  admiral 
found  himself  It  was  one  that  might  well  have 
daunted  a  stronger  man  than  Admiral  Villeneuve. 
In  closing  his  letter  to  the  Minister  of  Marine 
on  the  7th  of  August,  ViUeneuve  announced  his 
intention  of  taking  with  him  the  five  French  ships 
that  since  the  war  began  had  been  lying  blockaded 
at  Ferrol,  with  the  Spanish  Ferrol  squadron  of 
seven  or  nine  ships,  and  then  making  an  attempt 
to  reach  Brest  direct.  He  hoped,  he  said,  to  pick 
up  the  squadron  from  Rochefort  at  sea,  off  Cape 
Ortegal,  and  had  sent  out  a  fast  frigate  to  meet 
them  and  guide  them  to  his  rendezvous.^  If  he 
found  it  impossible  to  get  to  Brest,  he  would  then 
make  for  a  point  to  southward  of  the  Lizard  and 
push  on  thence  up  the  English  Channel.  Finally, 
he  said,  should  he  find  that  course  impracticable — 
and  he  had  reason,  unfortunately,  to  fear  that  the 
enemy  were  concentrating  to  northward  of  him  in 
very  superior  force — he  would  have  to  go  to  Cadiz, 
refit  there,  and  then  watch  his  chance,  and,  as  he 
hoped,  try  again.   So  Admiral  Villeneuve  salved  his 


1  The  "Didon"  was  the  frigate  in  question.  On  her  way  to  find 
the  Rochefort  ships  her  captain  let  himself  be  led  astray  into  attacking 
a  smaller  British  frigate,  the  ''  Phoenix/'  forgetful  of  his  first  duty,  to 
deliver  his  all-important  despatches.  He  caught  a  Tartar,  however, 
was  badly  hammered  and  had  to  surrender  at  discretion,  with  the 
result  that  Admiral  Villeneuve  missed  the  Rochefort  ships,  with  other 
consequences. 


"I    KNOW   NOT   WHAT   I   SHALL   DO!"  17 

conscience.  It  was  not  the  first  time  that  Ville- 
neuve  had  mentioned  Cadiz.  He  had  before  that 
hinted  at  the  possibility  of  his  having  to  use  that 
port.  It  was  within  his  discretion  to  put  in  there. 
Permission  to  go  to  Cadiz,  "  as  a  final  resort  in  un- 
foreseen circumstances,"  had  been  sent  to  Admiral 
Villeneuve  in  writing  some  time  before  ;  but  he  had 
been  expUcitly  warned  at  the  same  time  that  the 
Emperor  would  hear  of  his  doing  so  with  "extreme 
regret."^ 

This  is  what  Villeneuve  wrote  to  Decres  four 
days  later,  on  the  11th,  after  he  had  given  the 
order  to  weigh  and  make  sail.  "  I  am  about  to  set 
out,  but  I  know  not  what  I  shall  do.  Eight 
vessels  are  in  view  on  the  coast  at  a  few  leagues 
distance.  They  will  follow  us,  but  I  shall  not  be 
able  to  avoid  them,  and  then  they  will  go  and  join 
the  other  squadrons  before  Brest  or  Cadiz,  accord- 
ing as  1  make  my  way  to  one  or  other  of  these 
ports.     I  am  far  from  being  in  a  position,  I  deeply 

^  Troude,  "  Batailles  Navales  de  France,"  vol.  Ill,  p.  551  :  also 
"  Precis  des  Evenemens  Militaires,"  vol.  XI,  p.  250,  where  the  text  of 
the  instructions  drawn  up  by  Napoleon  for  Villeneuve  on  the  8th  of 
May  is  given  at  length.  Apparently  these  orders  were  sent  out  to 
Villeneuve  by  the  frigate  "  Didon,"  which  joined  him  at  Martinique. 

Villeneuve  was  to  pick  up  the  Rochefort  and  Ferrol  squadrons, 
go  to  Cadiz,  and  there  be  joined  by  the  Cartagena  ships  (which  had 
not  been  ready  when  he  left  the  Mediterranean),  then,  after  refitting 
at  Cadiz,  hold  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  in  force,  clear  Gibraltar  Bay  of 
shipping,  and  the  town  of  Gibraltar  of  its  stores  and  provisions,  and, 
after  that,  steer  once  more,  at  the  head  of  between  forty  and  fifty  sail, 
for  the  Channel,  for  Brest  or  direct  for  Boulogne,  as  the  circum- 
stances of  the  hour  rendered  advisable. 


18  THE  ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

regret  to  say  it,  in  leaving  this  place  with  twenty- 
nine  ships,  to  be  able  to  engage  a  similar  number 
of  the  enemy.  I  do  not  fear  to  tell  you,  indeed, 
that  I  should  be  hard  put  to  it  if  1  met  with 
twenty/ 

Everybody  in  the  Combined  Fleet  understood 
that  he  was  going  north.  General  Lauriston,  who 
was  on  board  the  "Bucentaure"  as  commanding 
the  division  of  troops  in  the  fleet,  by  one  of  the 
last  shore  boats  from  the  "  Bucentaure,"  sent  off 
a  despatch  for  Napoleon,  in  which  he  said  they 
were  "  coming  at  last " ! 

Two  days  after  leaving  Corunna,  acting  on  a 
false  report  from  a  passing  neutral  merchantman, 
to  the  effect  that  an  overpowering  British  force 
was  close  by  ahead.  Admiral  Villeneuve,  when  off* 
Cape  Finisterre,  gave  orders  for  the  Combined 
Fleet  to  go  about  and  make  for  Cadiz.  "  The 
reunion  of  the  forces  of  the  enemy,"  he  said,  in  the 
despatch  to  the  Minister  of  Marine  in  Paris  which 
he  wrote  while  on  the  way  to  Cadiz,  "  and  their 
knowledge  of  all  my  proceedings  since  my  arrival 
on  the  coast  of  Spain,  has  left  me  with  no  hope  of 
being  able  to  carry  out  the  great  object  for  which 
the  fleet  was  destined."  He  had  himself  seen  from 
the  quarter-deck  of  the  "  Bucentaure,"  both  on  the 
previous  afternoon  and  on  that  very  morning,  a 
number  of  strange  sail  on  the  horizon,  that  looked 
very  like  men-of-war.    The  Danish  skipper's  story, 

1  Thiers,  "Consulate  and  Empire,"  vol.  V,  p.  240. 


I 


THE  SPECTRE  OF  NELSON  19 

circumstantial  in  all  its  details  as  it  was,  coincided 
with  other  information  he  had  received,  and  con- 
firmed his  suspicions  about  the  enemy's  movements. 
It  forced  the  conclusion  on  his  mind  that  it  was 
useless  for  him  to  try  to  go  on/ 

"Admiral  Villeneuve,"  according  to  an  officer 
on  board  the  *'  Bucentaure,"  "  was  haunted  by  the 
spectre  of  Nelson."  He  had  never  been  able  to 
get  over  "le  souvenir  d'Aboukir."  That  after- 
noon the  wind  changed.  It  had  been  southerly 
since  he  left  Corunna ;  now  it  chopped  round  with- 
in a  few  points  of  due  north  and  headed  him. 
Admiral  Villeneuve  accepted  the  omen.  Now, 
he  considered,  he  could  not  help  himself.  He 
had  no  choice  now,  except  to  steer  for  Cadiz. 
Continuing  to  beat  up  against  the  wind  as  long 
as  daylight  lasted,  at  nightfall,  as  soon  as  it  was 
dusk,  he  made  the  signal  to  his  astonished  fleet 
to  wear  together  and  stand  to  the  south.      The 

^  The  intelligence  was  entirely  false.  The  Danish  skipper  had  been 
stopped  a  few  hours  before  by  a  British  man-of-war,  whose  captain, 
anticipating  that  the  Dane  would  come  across  some  of  Admiral 
Villeneuve^s  fleet  off  Corunna,  had  concocted  the  tale  and  gulled  the 
Dane  with  it.  His  idea  and  hope  was  that  it  might  make  the  Com- 
bined Fleet  stay  where  it  was  until  Admiral  Calder  with  a  reinforced 
fleet  returned  to  the  neighbourhood.  As  a  fact  at  that  moment  there 
were  no  British  men-of-war,  except  stray  cruisers,  nearer  than  Brest. 
Nelson  was  just  joining  Cornwallis  after  returning  from  the  West 
Indies,  and  was  himself  going  to  Merton  for  a  few  weeks'  leave,  leaving 
most  of  his  ships  with  the  Channel  P^leet ;  while  Calder  had  already 
rejoined  Cornwallis  and  would  not  part  company  again  for  another 
week.  There  was  thus,  actually,  at  that  moment  nothing  to  bar 
Villeneuve's  passage  north  within  three  hundred  and  eighty  miles  of 
him. 


20  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

Combined  Fleet  went  on  its  way,  and  kept  well 
out  of  sight  of  land  until  Cape  St.  Vincent  had 
been  passed. 

On  the  very  day  that  Admiral  Villeneuve  turned 
back,  the  entire  Grand  Army  at  Boulogne  paraded 
in  review  order  on  the  sands — "nine  miles  of 
soldiers" — under  the  eyes  of  Napoleon  himself 
and  eight  marshals.  It  was  to  be  the  last  muster 
before  the  army  crossed  the  Straits. 


NAPOLEON  S   MEDAL   TO    COMMEMORATE   THE    CONQUEST 
OF  ENGLAND 

[Four  trial-proofs  of  the  medal,  which  was  intended  to  be  issued  on  the  capture 
of  London,  are  said  to  have  been  struck  for  Napoleon's  approval,  and  are  now  in 
existence.    One  is  at  the  British  Museum.] 

The  Combined  Fleet  entered  Cadiz  harbour  on 
the  22nd  of  August.  Napoleon  that  same  day 
sent  off  his  last  letter  to  Admiral  Villeneuve  from 
Boulogne,  by  special  courier  charged  to  deliver  it 
on  board  the  "Bucentaure"  in  Brest  roads.  "Vice- 
Admiral,"  he  wrote,  "  I  trust  you  have  arrived  at 
Brest.  Make  a  start.  Lose  not  a  moment  and 
come  into  the  Channel,  bringing  our  united  squad- 
rons, and  England  is  ours.  We  are  all  ready; 
ever)rthing  is  embarked.     Be  here  but  for  twenty- 


HOW   COLLINGWOOD    PLAYED    HIS   GAME      21 

four  hours,  and  all  is  ended;  six  centuries  of  shame 
and  insult  will  be  avenged."^  "At  the  very 
moment,"  says  Napoleon's  aide-de-camp,  De  Segur, 
bitterly,  "  when  the  advent  of  this  unhappy  Ville- 
neuve  was  more  than  ever  hoped  for  and  expected 
before  Brest  and  in  the  Channel,  the  admiral  was 
turning  his  back  upon  us.  He  was  entering  into 
Cadiz,  where  he  allowed  himself  to  be  blocked  up 
by  six  of  the  enemy's  sail,  thus  rendering  useless 
his  fleet,  our  flotilla,  the  Emperor  himself,  and  the 
whole  expedition  which  was  vainly  expecting  him 
at  Brest,  at  Boulogne,  and  at  the  Texel ! " 

Immediately  Admiral  Villeneuve  let  go  anchor 
at  Cadiz,  CoUingwood's  small  squadron,^  which  had 
withdrawn  towards  the  Straits  during  the  fore- 
noon, as  the  Combined  Fleet  approached,  turned 

1  Thiers,  "  Consulate  and  Empire/'  vol.  V,  p.  246. 

That  same  day  Napoleon  sent  Talleyrand  in  Paris  a  letter  in  which 
he  said  :  "  My  fleets  were  lost  sight  of  from  the  heights  of  Cape 
Ortegal  on  the  14th  of  August.  If  they  come  into  the  Channel  there 
is  time  yet.  I  embark,  and  I  attempt  the  descent ;  I  go  to  London 
and  there  cut  the  knot  of  all  coalitions."  In  the  same  letter  Napoleon 
outlined  his  alternative  plan  of  campaign.  Should  the  naval  combina- 
tion fail  he  would  raise  his  camps  and  march  for  Vienna.  According 
to  M.  Thiers  it  was  on  the  22nd  of  August  that  the  Ferrol  despatches 
reached  the  Emperor,  on  which  he  called  in  Daru  and  dictated  to  that 
amazed  official  detailed  instructions  for  the  campaign  that  ended  at 
Austerlitz.  Alison  gives  the  date  as  the  11th  of  August,  but  Thiers' 
date  is  the  more  probable.  Five  days  later — on  the  27th — the  order 
was  issued  for  the  Grand  Army  to  strike  camp  and  set  out  for  the 
Rhine.  Napoleon  himself  did  not  leave  Boulogne  until  tlie  1st  of 
September,  the  day  on  which  the  news  of  Villeneuve's  arrival  at  Cadiz 
reached  London. 

^  CoUingwood,  with  from  four  to  six  ships  of  the  line,  a  detachment 
from  the  Channel  Fleet  sent  off  when  Nelson  crossed  the  Atlantic,  had 
been  cruising  off  Cadiz  and  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  since  June. 


22  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

back  and  showed  itself  off  the  port.  For  eight 
days  it  stood  to  and  fro  close  off  the  harbour 
mouth,  constantly  making  a  display  of  signals  to 
imaginary  consorts  beyond  the  horizon  and  out 
of  sight  from  Cadiz,  a  piece  of  make-believe  de- 
signed by  CoUingwood  to  lead  the  enemy  to  think 
that  his  four  ships  were  only  an  inshore  squadron 
detached  from  a  large  fleet  cruising  to  seaward, 
to  whom  they  were  making  reports.  How  far 
Admiral  Villeneuve  suspected  a  ruse  in  this  daily 
signalling,  or  whether  indeed  he  had  any  suspicions 
at  all,  does  not  appear.  The  trick,  however,  was 
an  easily  played  one,  and  one  that  should  have 
been  quickly  obvious.  It  had  been  had  recourse 
to  on  other  occasions,  as  every  admiral  must  have 
known.  At  any  rate,  he  took  no  steps  to  drive 
off  the  ships  outside  the  port  and  prove  if  there 
was  really  a  fleet  beyond,  although  he  had  ample 
force  of  fast  vessels  at  his  command  to  do  so 
at  any  moment  during  the  first  week.  It  suited 
his  convenience  better,  perhaps,  to  refrain  from 
doing  that.  He  had  his  hands  more  than  full  at 
Cadiz,  as  we  shall  see. 

Calder,  coming  down  from  the  north  at  the  head 
of  nineteen  sail  of  the  line,  joined  CoUingwood  on 
the  30th  of  August,  and  the  two,  with  an  addi- 
tional reinforcement  from  Gibraltar  under  Admiral 
Bickerton,  effectively  blockaded  Cadiz  until,  on  the 
29th  of  September,  Nelson  arrived  to  take  up  the 
supreme  command. 


CHAPTER   II 

COMING    EVENTS    CAST  THEIR 
SHADOWS    BEFORE 

THE  situation  of  the  enemy  at  Cadiz  during 
September  and  the  first  fortnight  of  October, 
1805,  can  only  excite  our  pity;  in  particular  for 
the  French  admiral,  as  a  gallant  and  well-meaning 
man  helplessly  struggling  in  the  toils  of  an  ad- 
verse fate.  Every  conceivable  difficulty  hampered 
Admiral  Villeneuve  at  Cadiz: — alienated  and 
angry  allies ;  a  deficiency  of  everything  that  his 
fleet  stood  most  in  need  of;  unwilling  subordi- 
nates, between  whom  and  himself  there  was  a 
mutual  lack  of  confidence.  The  hopelessness  of 
the  plan  of  campaign  entrusted  to  him.  Admiral 
Villeneuve  had  foreseen  from  the  first,  and  now 
that  the  breakdown  of  the  scheme  was  patent,  he 
lived  in  daily  dread  of  the  arrival  of  the  inevitable 
courier  from  Paris  with  Napoleon's  letters. 

Villeneuve  reached  Cadiz  on  the  22nd  of  August. 

He  arrived  to  find  that  there  he  was  little  better 
off  than  before  ;  if  not,  indeed,  worse.  His  former 
difficulties  still  confronted  him,  with  a  number  of 
fresh  troubles  added.     The  greatest  scarcity  pre- 

23 


24  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

vailed  at  Cadiz.  The  city  and  the  neighbouring 
districts  had  not  yet  recovered  from  a  deadly 
epidemic  that  had  ravaged  half  Andalusia  during 
the  past  spring  and  summer.  There  were  next  to 
no  food  supplies  available ;  the  dockyard  was  in  a 
state  of  disorganization ;  stores  for  the  refit  of  the 
fleet  were  almost  entirely  lacking.  What  there 
were,  moreover,  the  Spanish  authorities  refused  to 
let  the  French  make  use  of  without  orders  from 
Madrid.  The  news  of  the  action  with  Calder  had 
reached  Cadiz  in  advance  of  Villeneuve,  and  the 
fact  that  the  two  ships  lost  in  the  battle  had  both 
been  Spanish,  had  caused  a  bitter  feeling  of  resent- 
ment among  all  classes.  Their  ships — they  had 
also  been  manned  at  Cadiz,  and  belonged  to  the  port 
— had  been  "  deserted  in  action  and  sacrificed  "  by 
their  alHes,  said  the  Spaniards.  The  officials 
showed  their  resentment  by  taking  every  oppor- 
tunity of  thwarting  the  French  Commander-in- 
Chief.  The  Combined  Fleet  arrived  short  of 
nearly  everything — sea-stores,  provisions,  details 
of  dockyard  equipment,  down  to  gratings  and 
handspikes, — and  with  an  empty  treasure-chest. 

The  French  admiral,  finding  his  indents  on  the 
port  authorities  for  three  months'  supplies  flatly 
refused,  sent  off*  urgent  representations  to  General 
Beumonville,  the  French  Ambassador  at  Madrid. 
The  ambassador  had  an  interview  with  Godoy,  the 
"  Prince  of  Peace,"  Prime  Minister  and  "  General- 
issimo of  the  Spanish  Navy,"  which  resulted  in 


"THE    PRINCE   OF   PEACE"  25 

instructions  being  sent  to  Cadiz  for  everjrthing  that 
the  French  Fleet  demanded  to  be  granted  them  at 
once ;  but  the  Cadiz  authorities  still  demurred. 
They  declined,  they  said,  to  part  with  anything 
unless  the  French  paid  cash  down.  They  declined, 
they  said,  to  take  French  paper  money  or  the  drafts 
on  Paris  that  were  offered.  Once  more  Villeneuve 
wrote  to  Beurnonville,  who  again  saw  the  "  Prince 
of  Peace."  Admiral  Gravina,  who  had  accompanied 
the  French  to  the  West  Indies  and  back  in  charge 
of  the  Spanish  Division  of  the  Combined  Fleet,  and 
as  Second-in-Command  generally,  was  in  Madrid  at 
that  moment.  He  had  taken  leave  of  absence  to 
see  Godoy  personally  and  ask  to  be  permitted  to 
strike  his  own  flag.  As  a  Spaniard,  said  Gravina, 
he  could  not  pass  over  the  incident  of  the  two  lost 
ships,  which  had  been  attached  to  his  own  squadron. 
Their  fate,  he  said,  affected  him  on  the  point  of 
honour.  Godoy,  having  the  fear  of  Napoleon  be- 
fore his  eyes,  sent  off  a  strongly  worded  reprimand 
to  Cadiz,  in  reply  to  General  Beurnonville,  requir- 
ing implicit  obedience  to  his  instructions,  cash  or 
no  cash.  To  Gravina,  the  "  Prince  of  Peace  "  ex- 
pressed himself  as  personally  sympathetic,  but 
Spain,  he  went  on,  was  politically  bound  to  France, 
and  it  was  quite  impossible  at  that  moment  to 
accept  his  resignation,  He  suggested,  however,  in 
strict  confidence,  that  in  the  next  battle  it  might 
be  as  well  to  let  the  French  bear  the  brunt  of  the 
fighting  themselves.     He  urged  on  the  admiral  to 


26  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

return  to  Cadiz  forthwith  and  do  his  utmost  loyally 
to  assist  the  French  Commander-in-Chief.  Gravina 
waived  his  personal  views  and  agreed  to  do  so. 
The  port  authorities  at  Cadiz,  for  their  part,  on 
receipt  of  the  second  rescript  from  Madrid,  had  to 
obey,  but  they  did  so  very  reluctantly.  While 
complying  outwardly,  they  raised  difficulties  and 
objections  of  detail  at  every  step,  procrastinating 
and  retarding  the  delivery  of  everything  that  they 
safely  could. 

To  add  to  Villeneuve's  anxieties  at  the  outset, 
the  temper  of  both  the  officers  and  men  of  the 
Spanish  Fleet  and  of  the  populace  at  Cadiz  showed 
itself  openly  hostile  to  the  officers  and  men  of  the 
French  Fleet.  Letters  from  the  Spanish  Fleet, 
sent  from  Ferrol  three  weeks  before,  detailing 
incidents  of  the  fight  with  Calder  and  commenting 
in  indignant  terms  on  the  conduct  of  their  allies 
in  letting  the  two  Spanish  ships  be  taken,  were 
handed  about  at  private  gatherings  and  even  in  the 
wine-shops.  Colonel  le  Roy,  the  French  Consul- 
General  at  Cadiz,  had  to  make  a  protest  to  the 
Captain-General  and  Governor,  the  Marquis  de  la 
Solana,  laying  stress  on  the  bad  effect  that  that 
sort  of  thing  was  having.  A  casual  remark,  attri- 
buted to  one  of  the  French  captains,  that  the 
Spanish  officers  were  "  a  sorry  lot,"  and  that  "  their 
gross  incompetence  and  blundering  had  thrown  the 
two  ships  away,"  was  also  reported  all  over  Cadiz, 
and  did  no  good. 


ASSASSINATIONS   AND   SNEERS  27 

Some  of  the  Spanish  officers,  by  way  of  re- 
joinder, talked  openly  of  the  French  admiral's 
"treachery"  in  the  fight  off  Finisterre.  Other 
trouble  then  disclosed  itself.  The  ill-feeling  to- 
wards the  French  Fleet  among  the  populace 
showed  itself  next  in  a  very  sinister  way.  Leave 
ashore,  which  had  been  granted  on  the  fleet 
arrived  to  practically  all  officers,  and  certain  of 
the  men,  had  to  be  stopped  owing  to  personal 
insults  to  various  officers  in  places  of  public 
resort,  and  worse  still  in  consequence  of  a  number 
of  assassinations  of  French  seamen  after  dark.^ 

With  all  this.  Admiral  Villeneuve  had  to  face 
discontent  and  ill-will  towards  himself  in  his  own 
fleet.  The  prevailing  tone  among  the  majority  of 
the  French  officers  had  become  severely  critical 
towards  their  admiral,  if  not  actually  scornful  and 
sneering.  They  were  not  disposed  to  make 
allowances  for  him,  nor  to  admit  their  own  de- 
ficiencies to  any  extent.  To  his  other  sins  in  their 
eyes — in  particular,  his  failure  with  twenty-two 

^  This  was  the  state  of  things  at  Cadiz  during  the  first  half  of 
September,  according  to  a  letter  from  that  place,  which  reached 
England  in  October,  and  appeared  in  the  Times  of  the  11th  of  October : 
''Cadiz,  Sept.  14. — The  scarcity  occasioned  by  the  arrival  of  the 
Combined  Fleet  continues  to  be  severely  felt ;  recourse  has  been  had 
to  Seville,  and  a  supply  of  corn,  wine,  etc.,  demanded ;  even  the 
fountains  at  Puerta  Santa  Maria  have  been  put  in  requisition  for  the 
use  of  the  fleets.  Our  Admiral  Gravina  loudly  accuses  Villeneuve 
of  treachery  in  the  late  action,  and  has  solicited  leave  to  resign. 
Between  the  sailors  animosities  have  arisen  to  the'  highest  pitch,  and 
scarce  a  night  passes  but  the  dead  bodies  of  assassinated  Frenchmen 
are  found  in  our  streets." 


28  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

ships  to  defeat  Calder  with  fifteen,  his  non-renewal 
of  that  action  next  day,  when  the  weather  was 
clearer  and  he  had  the  wind  in  his  favour,  and  his 
final  turning  away  from  Brest  after  that — to  his 
previous  shortcomings.  Admiral  Villeneuve  had 
added  another,  quite  recently.  Why  on  earth, 
said  the  French  officers  to  one  another,  had  he  let 
Collingwood  escape  him  off  Cadiz?  He  had,  they 
said,  plenty  of  ships  fast  enough  to  catch  up  and 
destroy  the  small  British  detachment,  that  was 
all  then  off  the  port,  had  he  chosen  to  try.  It 
had  been  just  like  that  before,  recalled  some  of 
the  French  officers  also.  In  much  the  same  way, 
they  reminded  one  another,  Admiral  Villeneuve, 
when  he  first  came  out  of  the  Mediterranean 
in  May,  had  let  another  British  squadron  cruis- 
ing off  Cadiz  slip  through  his  hands.  Something 
of  these  murmurings,  as  we  are  told,  reached 
Villeneuve's  ears.  He  was  personally,  it  would 
appear,  not  on  very  cordial  terms  with  either 
of  his  flag-officers.  Rear -Admiral  Magon  and 
Rear- Admiral  Dumanoir.  Magon  was  too  hot- 
headed to  get  on  with  a  man  of  Villeneuve's 
temperament ;  Dumanoir  had  felt  sore  from  the 
first,  at  the  way  Villeneuve  had  been  brought 
in  over  his  head,  as  he  considered,  at  Toulon,  a 
twelvemonth  before. 

In  spite  of  all  his  personal  trials,  however, 
the  French  admiral  persevered  steadily  in  his 
efforts  to  get  the  Combined  Fleet  expeditiously 


HOPING   FOR   HELP   FROM   OUTSIDE  29 

refitted,  and  in  due  course,  progress  to  that  end 
was  reported.  It  fell  considerably  short  of  his 
requirements,  but  it  was  all  that  could  be  done 
at  Cadiz.  All  the  time  also,  Admiral  Villeneuve 
was  expecting  that  he  would  receive  material 
reinforcements  from  outside.  There  was  AUemand 
with  the  Rochefort  squadron,  which  was  known  to 
be  at  sea,  and  Salcedo  with  the  Spanish  Cartagena 
squadron,  which  had  had  orders  from  Madrid  to 
try  to  run  the  blockade.  Rear -Admiral  AUe- 
mand was  a  reliable  and  energetic  officer,  who 
would  prove,  Villeneuve  anticipated,  a  helpful  sup- 
porter for  himself;  and  his  flagship,  the  splendid 
three-decker  *'  Majestueux,"  would  be  an  immense 
acquisition  to  the  fleet.  According  to  a  message 
from  Lisbon  received  at  the  end  of  September, 
the  Rochefort  ships  had  been  sighted  coming 
down  the  Portuguese  coast.  In  anticipation  of 
the  early  arrival  of  either  or  both  squadrons, 
Villeneuve,  within  ten  days  of  his  arrival  at  Cadiz, 
moved  a  number  of  his  most  efficient  and  fastest 
ships  from  the  inner  port,  down  to  just  within  the 
harbour  mouth,  to  act  as  a  squadron  of  observation 
for  particular  service.  Rear- Admiral  Magon,  who 
had  charge,  was  given  orders  to  be  prepared  to 
slip  cables  at  any  moment,  night  or  day,  and  go 
out  to  help  the  new-comers  to  fight  their  way  in. 
At  the  same  time,  instructions  were  issued  for  the 
lighthouse  at  San  Sebastian's,  at  the  entrance  to 
Cadiz  Bay,  to  be  regularly  lighted  up  every  night. 


30  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

It  had  been  kept  extinguished  hitherto,  ever  since 
the  beginning  of  the  war.  Salcedo's  ships,  how- 
ever, dawdled  and  hung  back,  loath  to  leave  their 
moorings:  AUemand  and  "I'Escadre  invisible" 
remained  invisible  still.  ^ 

Do  what  he  would  to  occupy  himself,  however, 
the  hapless  French  admiral  could  not  succeed  in 
freeing  his  mind  from  the  one  overmastering 
thought.  Day  after  day,  and  with  ever-increasing 
anxiety  as  time  went  on.  Admiral  Villeneuve 
watched  for  the  post  from  Paris.  How  would 
Napoleon  take  the  news  that  he  was  there  ?  What 
would  the  Emperor  say  when  he  learned  that  the 
fleet,  on  whose  presence  in  the  English  Channel 
all  his  plans  hinged,  had  drawn  back  at  the  last 
and  taken  shelter  at  Cadiz?  All  his  local  diffi- 
culties weighed  as  dust  in  the  balance  with 
Admiral  Villeneuve,  when  he  thought  of  that. 
His  letters  to  Admiral  Decres,  the  Minister  of 
Marine  in  Paris,  at  this  time,  are  in  existence. 

Immediately  his  fleet  let  go  anchor  at  Cadiz, 

1  Admiral  AUemand  and  his  squadron  (comprising  a  120-gun  ship, 
four  80's,  a  74,  and  two  frigates)  had  found  easier  work  oflF  the 
Portuguese  coast  than  trying  to  force  the  blockade  of  Cadiz  vi  et  armis. 
They  had  turned  aside  to  chevy  a  British  convoy  for  the  Mediterranean 
that  they  ran  into  unexpectedly ;  making  a  haul  of  store-ships  and 
merchantmen,  but  letting  the  two  escorting  men-of-war  (the  ''Aga- 
memnon "  and  the  frigate  ''  I'Aimable  ")  get  away. 

"  The  mountain  sheep  are  sweeter. 
But  the  valley  sheep  are  fatter  ; 
We  therefore  deemed  it  meeter. 
To  carry  oflF  the  latter  "— 

in  the  words  of  "ITie  War  Song  of  Diuas  Vawr." 


"THE   LAUGHING-STOCK    OF   EUROPE"         31 

Admiral  Villeneuve  hastened  off  a  courier  for 
Paris  with  a  despatch  for  Decres.  Owing,  he  said, 
to  the  apparent  concentration  to  northward  of  him 
of  the  various  British  fleets  in  home  waters,  and 
the  knowledge  of  his  movements  they  undoubtedly 
had,  he  had  found  it  hopeless  to  attempt  to  fulfil 
his  allotted  mission.  The  general  situation,  he 
considered,  had  entirely  altered  since  he  received 
his  original  orders,  and,  having  the  option  of  doing 
so,  he  had  withdrawn  to  Cadiz.  Personally, 
Villeneuve  went  on,  he  was  "  in  despair,"  "  horror- 
stricken  "  over  the  situation  and  its  consequences ; 
at  his  sheer  inabiUty  to  carry  out  his  part  in  "  the 
grand  design."  It  was  pitiable,  he  confessed :  he 
and  his  fleet  had  made  themselves  "the  laughing- 
stock of  Europe"  ("le  fable  de  I'Europe!");  but 
the  position  was  inevitable  as  things  were.  For 
himself,  wrote  Villeneuve,  in  closing  the  letter,  he 
felt  plunged  "dans  un  abime  de  malheur."  Five 
days  afterwards  he  wrote  to  Decres  again,  and 
again  a  week  after  that.  In  his  letter  of  the  2nd 
of  September  he  said  he  was  obUged  with  much 
regret  to  inform  the  Minister  that  his  fleet  was 
over  two  thousand  men  short  of  its  strength. 
There  were  1,731  in  hospital,  and  in  the  six  months 
since  he  left  Toulon,  the  fleet  had  lost  311  men  by 
desertions.  He  was  hourly  expecting  letters,  he 
said ;  indeed,  he  had  not  had  a  line  since  his 
return  to  Europe.  Cadiz  was  destitute  of  supplies, 
and  also  he  had  no  money.     The  EngUsh  off  the 


32  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

port  were  increasing  in  numbers  :  Admiral  Bicker- 
ton  was  joining  Collingwood  from  Gibraltar,  and 
Calder's  fleet  was  reported  coming  down  the 
Portuguese  coast. 

Villeneuve  wrote  again  on  the  5th  of  September. 
He  was  extremely  anxious  to  hear  from  Paris,  he 
said  ;  he  was  awaiting  Decres'  next  despatch  "  avec 
la  plus  grande  anxiete  I " 

The  first  set  of  despatches  from  Decres  arrived 
on  the  night  of  the  15th  of  September.  They 
were  dated  "Boulogne,  1st  Sept.,"  and  dealt 
only  with  the  action  with  Admiral  Calder  and  the 
putting  in  of  the  Combined  Fleet  to  Vigo.  As 
Villeneuve  anticipated,  nothing  could  exceed  the 
wrath  of  the  Emperor, — even  though,  when  the 
despatch  was  sent  off.  Napoleon  had  not  yet 
learned  the  sequel,  the  retirement  to  Cadiz. 
Decres,  in  conveying  the  sense  of  Napoleon's 
comments,  had,  for  the  sake  of  his  old  shipmate's 
feelings,  put  things  as  mildly  as  he  could,  but  it 
was  easy  to  read  beween  the  lines.  Admiral  Ville- 
neuve posted  back  his  reply  early  next  morning. 
Nothing,  he  declared,  could  console  him  for  the 
reproaches  of  His  Majesty.  He  sincerely  deplored 
the  situation,  but  he  had  done  all  that  could  be 
done.  The  dense  fog  in  which  the  battle  had 
been  fought  had  prevented  him  manceuvring  at 
all,  he  said :  he  could  not  see  his  ships ;  it  was  all 
the  fleet  could  manage  to  keep  line.  He  deeply 
regretted  that  the  Emperor  had  formed  an  un- 


ENTIRELY   NEW   ORDERS  83 

favourable  opinion  of  him,  and  he  could  only  hope 
that  Decres  would  be  able  to  represent  matters  to 
His  Majesty  in  a  better  light. 

Eight  days  after  that  Villeneuve  wrote  to  Paris 
to  announce  that  he  had  now  received  on  board  the 
six  months'  provisions  asked  for  from  the  Spanish 
authorities,  and  that  the  fleet  was  under  orders  to 
keep  ready  to  weigh  anchor  on  the  signal  going 
up.  Two  Spanish  three-deckers,  the  "Santa  Ana" 
and  the  "  Rayo,"  were  not  quite  ready  for  sea,  but 
rather  than  delay  he  would  go  out  at  the  first  fair 
wind  without  them,  and  use  his  best  endeavours 
to  fulfil  the  Emperor's  orders. 

This  letter  was  sent  off  on  the  24th  of  Septem- 
ber. Four  days  later  the  dreaded  despatch,  in  reply 
to  his  letter  announcing  his  arrival  at  Cadiz,  was 
placed  in  Admiral  Villeneuve's  hands.  It  was  dated 
the  16th  of  the  month — from  Paris.  By  it  Ville- 
neuve's previous  instructions  were  cancelled  at  one 
stroke.  In  their  stead  was  enclosed  a  totally  new  set 
of  orders,  signed  by  Napoleon's  own  hand.  He  was 
to  leave  Cadiz  forthwith,  taking  the  whole  Spanish 
fleet  with  him,  pass  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  and 
pick  up  Admiral  Salcedo's  squadron  at  Cartagena. 
Then  he  would  cross  to  the  Bay  of  Naples  and  land 
the  four  thousand  French  soldiers  he  had  in  the 
fleet  at  Cadiz,  to  join  General  St.  Cyr's  army  at 
Tarentum,  snap  up  a  British  seventy -four,  the 
"Excellent,"  which  Nelson  had  left  as  guardship 
off  Naples  earlier  in  the  year,  and  finally,  carrying 


34.  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

all  the  Spanish  ships  with  him,  he  was  to  return 
to  Toulon  and  report  his  arrival  there  to  Paris. 
"L'audace,"  wrote  Napoleon,  "et  la  plus  grande 
activite,"  were  to  be  his  watchwords.  "Attack 
wherever  you  find  the  enemy  in  inferior  force  ; 
attack  without  hesitation,  and  make  a  decisive 
affair  of  it." 

The  imperial  rebuke  that  Villeneuve  had  been 
anxiously  expecting,  did  not  accompany  the  des- 
patch. Admiral  Decres,  in  his  covering  letter, 
wrote  very  gravely  to  the  effect  that  the  Emperor 
had  "reproached  him  very  severely,  and  that  he 
had  much  to  do  to  regain  His  Majesty's  confi- 
dence," but  he  refrained  from  going  into  details. 
Not  a  word  came  from  Napoleon.  It  was  certainly 
as  well  that  Decres  kept  to  himself  what  he  knew. 
In  his  unrestrained  fury  at  the  news.  Napoleon  had 
said  the  very  harshest  and  cruellest  things  of 
Admiral  Villeneuve,  as  well  as,  incidentally,  of 
Decres  himself,  and  indeed,  everybody  concerned 
with  the  Imperial  Navy.  Admiral  Decres'  letter 
to  the  Emperor,  when  forwarding  Villeneuve's 
first  despatch  from  Cadiz,  provoked  the  outburst. 
The  Minister  of  Marine,  desirous  of  shielding  his 
old  friend  as  far  as  he  might,  had  ventured  in  that 
covering  letter  to  suggest  that  Napoleon  ought 
really  to  consider  it  providential  that  Villeneuve's 
fleet  had  gone  to  Cadiz.  "  It  is,"  wrote  Decres, 
"  an  act  of  Destiny  that  preserves  your  Majesty's 
fleet  for  other  operations."     Owing  to  the  British 


"A  COWARD   AND   A   TRAITOR!"  35 

preponderance  in  the  Channel,  urged  Decres,  it 
had  all  along  been  hopeless  for  Villeneuve  to  try 
to  break  through  northward.  He  himself,  as  well 
as  Ganteaume  and  Gravina,  was  of  opinion, 
Decres  ventured  to  add,  that  disaster  must  have 
attended  Villeneuve's  effort.  It  would  have  been 
suicide  to  have  run  the  gauntlet.  He  implored 
Napoleon  to  give  up  the  idea  once  for  all. 
"  France,"  concluded  Decres,  with  a  frankness 
that  made  Napoleon  savage,  "would  do  better, 
in  maritime  matters,  to  return  to  principles  of 
warfare  better  suited  to  her  resources."  In  reply, 
the  Minister  of  Marine,  as  he,  no  doubt,  quite 
anticipated,  received  a  letter  of  raging  abuse. 
It  designated  himself  and  everybody  connected 
with  the  navy  as  "  incapables."  "Les  Anglais 
deviendront  bien  petits  quand  La  France  aura 
deux  ou  trois  amiraux  qui  veuillent  mourir,"  was 
one  cruelly  false  and  unjust  thing  that  the  Em- 
peror said.  As  for  himself.  Admiral  Decres  had 
better  not  dare  to  write  again  like  that.  As  for 
Ganteaume,  he  was  a  dullard.  Gravina  was  an 
ass.  Admiral  Villeneuve  was  a  "  coward  and 
a  traitor."  "  Villeneuve,"  Napoleon  went  on, 
"  is  a  wretch  who  ought  to  be  ignominiously 
cashiered.  He  has  no  plan,  no  courage,  no  in- 
sight;  he  would  sacrifice  everything  to  save  his 
own  skin.  Until  you  find  something  plausible  to 
say,  I  beg  you  will  not  speak  to  me  of  an  affair 
so  humiliating,  nor  remind   me   of  a  person  so 


S6  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

cowardly."  Napoleon's  letter  was  dated  the  4th 
of  September.  Ten  days  later  he  forwarded  Ville- 
neuve's  new  plan  of  campaign  to  the  Minister 
of  Marine.  Next  day  Napoleon  wrote  again: 
"  Send  off  a  special  courier  to  Villeneuve  to  order 
him  to  execute  this  plan  of  campaign."  In  a  post- 
script to  the  same  letter  the  Emperor  ordered 
Admiral  Villeneuve  to  be  superseded.  "As  his 
pusillanimity,"  proceeded  Napoleon,  "  will  prevent 
his  undertaking  the  plan,  you  will  despatch  Ad- 
miral Rosily  to  take  the  command  of  the  fleet, 
and  giVe  him  letters  directing  Villeneuve  to  return 
to  France  forthwith  and  account  to  me  for  his 
conduct."^  Decres,  in  his  note  to  Villeneuve,  said 
nothing  of  all  this.  The  Minister  of  Marine's 
holograph  draft  of  the  order,  dated  the  17th  of 
September,  directing  Admiral  Villeneuve  to  strike 
his  flag  and  return  to  Paris,  is  still  in  existence, 
kept  among  the  archives  of  the  Ministry  of  Marine 
in  Paris.  Admiral  Rosily,  who  would  start  on 
the  24th,  was  to  take  it  with  him  and  hand  it 
himself  to  his  predecessor  on  arrival  at  Cadiz. 
Decres,  to  the  last,  would  spare,  all  he  could,  the 
susceptibilities  of  his  old  messmate.  The  existing 
holograph  draft  of  the  order  tells  its  own  tale. 
"  He  wrote  the  draft  of  the  order  of  recall," 
describes  Jurien  de  la  Graviere,  "with  a  trembling 

^  ^'Comme  son  excessive  pusillanimite  Tempecliera  de  I'entre- 
prendre,  vous  enverrez,  pour  le  remplacer,  Tamiral  Rosily,  qui  sera 
porteur  de  lettres  qui  enjoindront  a  ramiral  Villeneuve  de  se  rendre 
en  France  pour  rendre  compte  de  sa  conduite." 


''WITH   THE    FIRST   FAIR   WIND"  37 

hand.  He,  whose  pen  was  so  ready,  whose  style 
was  so  clear  and  flowing,  now  blotted  and  altered 
twenty  times  the  five  or  six  lines  by  which  he  in- 
formed that  unhappy  officer  of  his  recall,  and  the 
Emperor's  intentions." 

To  the  despatch  conveying  Napoleon's  new 
orders  for  the  fleet  at  Cadiz,  Admiral  Villeneuve 
repUed  that  the  soldiers,  who  had  been  landed  on 
the  arrival  of  the  fleet  to  recuperate  on  shore, 
would  re-embark  at  once.  After  that  the  whole 
fleet  should  sail  with  the  first  fair  wind.  He  would 
do  his  best,  he  said,  and  in  the  altered  conditions 
their  prospects  were  brighter,  it  might  be.  "S'il 
ne  manque  k  la  Marine  Imperiale,"  he  wrote  to 
Decr^s,  "que  du  caractere  et  de  I'audace,  je  crois 
pouvoir  assurer  votre  Excellence  que  la  mission 
actuelle  sera  couronn^  d'un  brillant  succes."  Ad- 
miral Villeneuve  appended  the  latest  return  of 
the  state  of  his  (French)  crews,  showing  a  total 
deficiency  of  2,207  men.  His  total  force  fit  for  duty 
he  returned  at  9,733 ;  seamen  ratings  and  officers. 
The  two  senior  officers  of  the  troops,  Generals 
Lauriston  and  Reille,  set  off  with  Villeneuve's 
courier  on  their  way  for  Napoleon's  headquarters 
in  Germany,  leaving  Brigadier  De  Contamine  in 
command  of  the  soldiers  in  the  fleet.  Lauriston 
and  Reille  joined  Napoleon's  entourage  on  the  field 
of  AusterUtz  two  hours  after  the  firing  had  begun, 
to  be  warmly  congratulated  and  to  learn  within 
the  first  five  minutes  what  had  happened  to  the 
fleet  they  had  so  opportunely  left. 


38  THE  ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

His  change  of  orders,  all  said  and  done,  must 
have  come  with  a  sense  of  relief  on  Admiral 
Villeneuve.  At  the  outset  he  had  accepted  the 
leadership  of  the  fleet,  now  at  Cadiz,  against  his 
own  better  judgment.  From  the  very  first  he 
had  seen  the  vital  defect  in  Napoleon's  plan  of 
campaign.  He  had  had  misgivings  all  along  that 
the  combination  the  Emperor  had  devised  was  a 
practical  impossibility.  So  too,  indeed.  Admiral 
Villeneuve  had  said  in  effect  to  Decres  when  the 
command  was  first  offered  him,  at  an  interview 
with  the  Minister  of  Marine  in  Paris.  But  he  had 
let  himself  be  talked  over  into  accepting  it;  had 
been  induced  to  accept  it,  apparently,^  by  the 
tempting  offer  made  him  by  the  Minister  of  Marine 
of  special  promotion  to  Vice- Admiral,  and  the 
ribbon  of  a  "  Grand  Officier."  "  Sire,"  wrote  Decres 
to  Napoleon  at  Boulogne  in  August,  1804,  report- 
ing what  passed  at  the  interview,  "  Vice- Admiral 
Villeneuve  and  Rear- Admiral  Missiessy  are  here. 
I  have  laid  before  the  former  the  grand  project. 
He  listened  to  it  coldly  and  remained  silent  for 
some  moments.  Then,  with  a  quiet  smile  (un 
sourire  tres  calme),  he  said  to  me,  'I  expected 
something  of  that  sort.'  Proceeding  he  said,  '  To 
meet  with  approval  such  projects  need  first  to 
have  achieved  success.'"  [Villeneuve's  actual  words 
were  a  quotation  from  Racine : — 

Mais  pour  etre  approuves^ 
De  semblables  projets  out  besoia  d'etre  acheves.] 


HOW  VILLENEUVE  WAS  WON    OVER  39 

"I  write  to  Your  Majesty,"  continued  Deeres, 
"  word  for  word  his  exact  reply,  as  uttered  in  the 
course  of  a  confidential  interview,  so  that  Your 
Majesty  may  realize,  better  than  my  own  descrip- 
tion could  convey,  the  first  effect  produced  on  him 
by  the  proposals."  Villeneuve's  besetting  defect, 
however,  infirmity  of  purpose,  got  the  better  of 
his  common  sense  before  he  left  the  room.  The 
arguments  and  inducements  offered  by  his  old 
shipmate  won  him  over  completely  within  half  an 
hour.  "  On  further  consideration,"  wrote  the 
Minister  of  Marine,  "the  risks  to  be  run  did  not 
of  themselves  seem  to  him  insuperable ;  and  in 
the  end  his  advancement  to  the  rank  of  Grand 
Officer  and  Vice- Admiral  seemed  to  make  another 
man  of  him  (un  homme  tout  nouveau).  All 
thoughts  of  the  difficulties  attending  the  scheme 
seemed  to  be  laid  aside,  effaced  by  the  hopes  of 
glory.  He  ended,  indeed,  by  saying  to  me,  '  I  fall 
in  with  it  entirely '  (Je  me  livre  tout  entier)." 

On  the  face  of  things  the  appointment  was  as 
good  a  one  as  could  have  been  made,  now  that 
La  Touche  Treville  was  no  more.  Admiral  Ville- 
neuve  was  "undoubtedly,"  to  use  the  words  of 
Jurien  de  la  Graviere,  "the  most  accomplished 
officer,  the  most  able  tactician,  whatever  people 
may  say,  though  not  the  most  resolute  man,  that 
the  French  navy  then  possessed."  ^    Unfortunately, 

^  "Sketches  of  the  Last  Naval  War."  Jurien  de  la  Graviere 
(Plunkett's translation),  p.  231.     The  "Sketches"  appeared  originally 


40  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

as  the  situation  that  the  new  Vice- Admiral  had  to 
deal  with  developed,  decision  of  character  proved 
to  be  wanted  even  more  than  tactics. 

In  the  Spanish  division  of  the  Combined  Fleet, 
meanwhile,  the  return  of  Admiral  Gravina  from 
Madrid  had  galvanized  everybody  into  making 
at  least  a  show  of  bustling  activity.  But  the 
materials  available  were  of  the  poorest  quality. 
There  were  sufficient  Spanish  ships  in  the  port 
to  bring  the  Combined  Fleet  up  to  forty  sail  of 
the  line  all  told,  most  of  which  were  in  good 
condition  and  admirable  vessels  in  themselves ; 
but  there  was  a  serious  lack  of  equipment  for 
them,  while  the  general  resources  of  the  dockyard 
were  in  a  deplorably  inefficient  state.  Worse  still, 
really,  was  the  terrible  want  of  seamen  at  Cadiz. 
The  crews  that  Gravina  had  brought  back  with 
him  after  his  cruise  across  the  Atlantic  in  company 
with  Admiral  Villeneuve,  were  themselves  sickly 
and  in  bad  order.  There  had,  indeed,  been  more 
desertions  at  Cadiz  during  September,  from  the 
Spanish  ships  of  the  Combined  Fleet,  than  from 
the  French.  With  hardly  enough  men  at  his 
disposal  to  go  round  in  the  ships  already  in 
commission,  what  was  Gravina  to  do  about 
manning  the  others,  the  fresh  ships  lying  without 
any   crews  at   all   in   Cadiz   harbour  ?     Admiral 

some  sixty  years  ago  in  the  ''  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,"  as  a  series  of 
articles;  a  British  naval  officer,  Captain  the  Hon.  E.  Plunkett,  r.n., 
collected  them  and  translated  them  in  one  volume. 


c        c    c    c 


'    r    '     f 
€         <         t 


A   TERRIBLE    LACK   OF   MEN  41 

Gravina  addressed  himself  to  the  problem  with 
all  his  energy,  and  he  was  as  energetic  a  man 
as  Spain  possessed  at  that  day ;  but  with  all  his 
resourcefulness  he  could  not  make  men.  The 
seafaring  classes  of  Cadiz,  and  the  fisherfolk  of 
the  Andalusian  coast,  had  been  practically  deci- 
mated by  yellow  fever  during  the  previous  spring 
and  summer,  and  most  of  those  who  had  been 
spared  were  already  serving  on  board  the  fleet.  To 
fill  the  gaps  and  complete  the  complements  of  the 
men-of-war,  a  public  appeal  was  made  for  volun- 
teers, while  press-gangs  swept  the  streets  of  the 
city  every  night.  The  results,  however,  were  no 
real  gain.  "II  est  bien  penible,"  wrote  Admiral 
Villeneuve,  in  one  of  his  despatches  to  Decr^s, 
"de  voir  des  vaisseaux  aussi  beaux  et  aussi  forts 
armes  par  des  patres  et  des  mendiants,  et  de 
n'avoir  qu'un  aussi  petit  nombre  de  matelots." 

After  the  press-gangs  had  done  their  utmost,  it 
was  not  found  possible  to  man  more  than  fifteen 
Spanish  ships  at  the  most.  With  the  French 
eighteen,  they  would  bring  the  Combined  Fleet 
up  to  a  grand  total  of  thirty-three  sail  of  the  line. 
In  order  to  make  the  best  of  the  situation,  the 
slowest  and  least  effective  of  the  Spanish  ships 
already  in  the  fleet  were  paid  off"  and  sent  into 
the  dockyard,  in  exchange  for  the  best  of  the 
recently  fitted  out  vessels,  to  make  up  the 
fifteen. 

To  stiffen  the  new  crews,  and  man  the  upper- 


42  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

deck  guns  and  supply  the  musketry,  and  also  to 
leave  what  trained  seamen  there  were  available, 
free  for  their  own  special  work  aloft,  strong  drafts 
of  soldiers  were  shipped.  They  were  drawn, 
some  from  the  garrison  of  Cadiz,  but  mostly  from 
the  Spanish  "  camp  of  observation  "  at  San  Roque, 
facing  Gibraltar,  and  comprised  a  battalion  of  the 
Regimiento  de  Cordoba  (now  the  10th  of  the 
Line),  on  board  the  "Santisima  Trinidad"  and 
the  "  Argonauta " ;  a  battalion  of  the  Rto.  de 
Soria  (9th) ;  the  2nd  battalion  of  the  Rto.  de 
Africa  (7th) ;  a  battalion  of  the  Rto.  del  Corona 
(6th),  divided  between  the  "San  Juan  Nepo- 
muceno,"  the  "  Neptuno,"  and  the  "  San  Francisco 
de  Asis";  the  Rto.  de  Burgos  (now  the  36th  of 
the  Line),  on  board  the  flagship  "Principe  de 
Asturias,"  with  some  men  in  the  "  San  Francisco 
de  Asis  " ;  also  detachments  of  the  Rto.  de  America 
(now  the  44th  of  the  Line  under  the  style  of  the 
Rto.  de  San  Marcial) ;  and  the  2nd  battalion  of 
the  Voluntarios  de  Cataluna  (now  the  1st  Caza- 
dores).  The  Africa  and  Soria  regiments  had  been 
with  Gravina  throughout,  and  had  made  the  cruise 
to  the  West  Indies  as  part  of  the  proposed  expedi- 
tion against  Trinidad ;  together  with  other  troops 
left  at  Ferrol.  The  other  Spanish  corps  named 
were  shipped  at  Cadiz  during  September ;  mostly 
for  the  newly  commissioned  ships,  or  to  take  the 
places  on  board  certain  of  the  others,  of  trained 
seamen   transferred   from  their  original   ships  to 


ALL   PREPARED   TO   DO    THEIR   BEST  43 

serve  as  nucleus  crews  in  the  newly  fitted  out 
vessels.^ 

Whatever  his  personal  feelings  were,  Admiral 
Villeneuve  spared  himself  no  exertions.  He  did  all 
he  could  do  on  the  spot  to  increase  the  fighting 
efficiency  of  his  ships  and  hasten  forward  their  pre- 
parations for  battle.  His  officers,  most  of  them, 
supported  him  loyally  in  that — for  their  own 
credit  sake.  They  might  think  unfavourably  of 
their  leader,  but  the  day  of  battle  was  at  hand. 
Each  officer  then  would  have  to  acquit  himself  as 
best  he  could,  on  his  own  account.  Each  captain 
would  have  to  answer  to  the  Emperor  for  his  own 
ship.  A  battle  at  the  closest  quarters  was  looked 
forward  to  by  most  of  the  French  captains — fully 
aware  of  the  inferiority  of  the  fleet  in  manoeuvring 
and  tactical  power,  and  as  September  drew  to  its 
last  week  every  effort  was  made  to  practise  their 
crews  in  hand-to-hand  fighting  and  boarding  exer- 

^  Some  of  these  were  among  the  historic  regiments  of  Old  Spain, 
and  two  of  them,  by  a  coincidence,  having  regard  to  the  place  in 
history  of  the  battle  of  Trafalgar,  were  the  direct  descendants  in  un- 
broken succession  of  two  famous  Spanish  corps  which  served  on  board 
the  Spanish  Armada.  The  Regimiento  de  Africa,  under  its  earlier 
name  of  the  Tercio  de  Sicilia,  had  one  wing  on  board  the  "  Nuestra 
Senora  del  Rosario,"  which  Drake  brought  to  action  and  captured  oiF 
Torbay  in  so  dramatic  a  fashion,  and  the  rest  of  the  corps  was  on  board 
Medina  Sidonia's  flagship,  the  "San  Martin."  The  Regimiento  de 
Soria  (in  1688  the  '^Tercio"  of  the  same  name)  went  on  board  the 
Armada  three  thousand  strong,  and  left  a  depot  company  of  a  hundred 
men  behind  on  shore.  Every  single  man  of  the  three  thousand  perished 
in  galleons  that  went  down  off  the  Irish  coast,  and  the  depot  company 
at  home  was  made  the  nucleus  for  a  new  corps,  the  Regimiento  de 
Soria,  that  in  due  course  went  through  other  experiences  at  Trafalgar. 


44  THE  ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

cises  of  every  kind.  To  take  two  instances. 
Captain  Lucas  of  the  "  Redoutable  "  notes  that 
he  drilled  his  men  personally  at  pistol  and  bayonet 
exercise,  and  also  had  dummy  hand-grenades  made 
which  he  trained  his  topmen  to  fling,  two  at  a 
time,  at  the  same  time  drilling  picked  gangs 
with  grappling-irons.  Admiral  Magon,  to  encour- 
age those  in  his  flagship,  displayed  on  his  quarter- 
deck a  handsome  and  costly  silver-mounted  belt, 
very  massive  and  of  elaborate  workmanship,  which 
had  been  presented  to  him  some  time  before  by 
the  directors  of  the  Compagnie  des  Philippines,  as 
a  mark  of  their  appreciation  for  having  safely 
escorted  home  to  France  two  very  richly  freighted 
Indiamen  from  the  Far  East.  He  had  set  great 
store  by  the  presentation  and  had  said  he  would 
make  it  an  heirloom  in  his  family.  Now  Magon 
turned  all  hands  up  and  announced :  "  The  first 
man  to  board  an  enemy  shall  have  the  belt " ! 


CHAPTER    III 

THE   COUNCIL   OF  WAR  AND  THE 
ORDER  TO   WEIGH   ANCHOR 

ADMIRAL  VILLENEUVE  began  his  final 
-^  preparations  for  sea  on  the  1st  of  October. 
During  that  day  and  the  next  the  four  thousand 
French  soldiers  on  shore  were  taken  back  on  board 
ship.  They  had  been  originally  shipped  at  Toulon 
to  form  part  of  an  expedition  against  the  British 
West  Indies,  but  time  had  not  sufficed  for  its 
getting  to  work,  and  the  troops  had  returned  on 
board  the  fleet.  They  comprised  a  battalion  each 
of  the  2nd  of  the  Line  and  the  16th  of  the  Line 
(the  93rd  in  the  modern  French  Army) ;  two 
battaUons  of  the  67th  (now  the  25th) ;  a  battalion 
each  of  the  70th  and  the  79th  of  the  Line ;  with 
details  of  the  1st  Swiss  Regiment,  the  6th  Depot 
Coloniale,  and  the  41st  Demi-Brigade,  brought 
fi'om  Martinique,  two  companies  of  the  4th  Artil- 
lerie  a  pied,  and  two  troops  (without  horses)  of 
Chasseurs.^   The  soldiers  were  distributed  through- 

1  Upwards  of  6,000  troops  were  embarked  at  Toulon,  but  800  of 
these  were  left  in  garrison  at  Martinique.  Field  guns  with  limbers 
and  equipment  complete  were  found  by  us  on  board  the  captured  ships 

45 


46  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

out  the  fleet  and  told  off  to  fire  from  the  tops  and 
along  the  upper  decks  in  their  various  ships.  All 
were  on  board  by  evening  of  the  2nd  of  October. 

In  the  course  of  that  afternoon  Admiral  Gravina 
came  on  board  the  "Bucentaure"  with  two  important 
messages  that  had  just  reached  him  by  courier  from 
Lisbon.  One  confirmed  the  other.  Nelson,  the 
messages  said,  was  coming  out  from  England  to 
command  the  blockading  fleet.  He  was  on  his  way 
already,  and  had  four  sail  of  the  line  with  him. 
There  was  also  reason  to  believe  that  a  great  in- 
cendiary project  had  been  planned  by  the  British 
Admiralty  to  destroy  the  Combined  Fleet  at  its 
anchorage.  Nelson  would  probably  attempt  it. 
Such   was   the    tenor   of    Gravina's    information. 


after  Trafalgar.  Each  regiment  of  French  infantry  at  this  time, 
it  may  be  added,  comprised  four  battalions.  Napoleon  had  four 
regiments  of  Swiss  infantry,  uniformed  in  red  coats.  The  Foot 
Artillery  comprised  nine  regiments,  each  of  two  battalions,  made 
up  of  eleven  companies  to  each  battalion.  Also,  as  has  been 
mentioned  in  the  case  of  certain  of  the  Spanish  regiments  in 
the  fleet,  some  of  these  French  regiments  at  Trafalgar  had  filled 
a  similar  role  in  previous  battles  at  sea  against  British  fleets  in 
the  days  of  the  Monarchy.  The  old  representatives  of  the  corps 
numbered  in  1805  as  the  16th  of  the  Line,  for  instance,  had  fought  as 
the  Regiment  de  Conde,  on  board  the  French  fleet  that  met  Admiral 
Keppel  off  Ushant,  seven-and-twenty  years  before.  The  67th  had  a 
sea-service  record  going  back  to  the  time  when  Richelieu  first  raised  the 
corps  for  duty  as  musketeers  on  board  the  ships  of  his  "  new  "  navy, 
under  the  name  of  the  "  Regiment  '  La  Marine,' "  the  rank  and  file 
of  which,  as  a  fact,  had  themselves  been  drafted  from  the  ancient 
''Admiral's  regiment"  of  old-time  France,  which  the  great  Huguenot 
hero  Coligny  had  himself  commanded.  This  same  regimen^:,  under  its 
later  territorial  name  of  "I'Auxerrois"  had  fought  in  the  fleets  of 
De  Guichen  and  De  Grasse  against  Rodney  in  the  West  Indies. 


VILLENEUVE   REFUSES  TO   DELAY  47 

Meanwhile,  the  wind  continued  westerly,  making 
it  practically  impossible  for  Villeneuve  to  get  away. 

Bad  weather,  too,  was  at  hand,  as  the  unsteady 
barometer  portended.  The  Spanish  officers,  who 
knew  from  lifelong  experience  what  the  readings 
of  the  glass  meant  at  that  time  of  year  on  the 
Andalusian  coast,  were  strongly  opposed  to  the 
sailing  of  the  fleet  for  the  present,  even  should  the 
wind  come  favourably.  Delay,  they  urged  person- 
ally on  Admiral  Villeneuve  in  addition,  was  to  the 
general  advantage.  Neither  the  "  Santa  Ana  "  nor 
the  "Rayo,"  both  three-deckers,  was  quite  ready 
for  sea,  nor  was  the  *'  San  Justo  ";  and  the  Spanish 
fleet,  as  a  whole,  wanted  at  least  another  three 
weeks  at  Cadiz  for  their  raw  crews  to  settle  down 
on  board  and  learn  something  of  man-of-war  work. 
The  French  Commander-in-Chief,  however,  de- 
clined to  alter  his  decision.  He  insisted  that  he 
would  go  out  the  instant  the  wind  changed,  at  all 
risks.  It  did  change,  to  due  east,  on  the  morning 
of  the  7th.  At  once  the  "  Bucentaure  "  ran  up  the 
signal  flags  for  the  Combined  Fleet  to  prepare  to 
weigh.  But  before  anchors  could  be  broken  out  of 
the  ground,  the  wind  had  changed  back  again  and 
blew  steadily  from  the  old  quarter — dead  foul  for 
leaving  port. 

It  was  cruelly  provoking  for  Admiral  Villeneuve; 
but  he  could  not  help  himself.  There  he  was  and 
there  he  must  stay.  The  occasion,  however,  offered 
an  opportunity  that  he  made  use  of.     Before  send- 


48  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

ing  off  his  next  despatch  to  Paris  he  would  hold  a 
full  Council  of  War  and  place  on  record  its  opinion 
as  to  an  early  departure  and  the  general  circum- 
stances in  which  the  Combined  Fleet  found  itself. 
That  he  would  forward  for  the  Emperor's  own 
perusal. 

The  Council  of  War  met  next  day — the  8th  of 
October— on  board  the  flagship  "  Bucentaure."  It 
comprised  seven  French  and  six  Spanish  officers  : — 
Admiral  Villeneuve  himself  with  his  two  flag 
officers,  Dumanoir  and  Magon  and  Captains 
Cosmao,  Maistral,  Villegris,  and  Prigny,  on  the 
French  side  ;  Admiral  Gravina  and  his  flag  officers, 
Alava,  Escano,  and  Cisneros,  and  the  two  senior 
Spanish  Commodores,  Galiano  and  Churruca. 

Admiral  Villeneuve,  as  Commander-in-Chief, 
opened  the  proceedings.  He  gave  a  summary  of 
his  new  sailing  orders,  and  declared  as  his  own 
opinion  that  the  fleet  must  put  to  sea  at  the  very 
first  opportunity.  Objections  and  murmurs  rose 
at  once  from  the  Spanish  side  of  the  table.  One 
after  another  the  Spaniards  protested,  politely  but 
firmly,  and  begged  leave  to  dissent  from  the  view 
of  his  Excellency  the  French  admiral.  Stormy 
weather  was  coming  up  from  the  westward,  said 
one:  the  "Santa  Ana"  and  "Rayo"  could  not 
possibly  be  left  behind,  said  another.  Delay  was 
all  in  favour  of  the  Combined  Fleet,  a  third  de- 
clared, quoting  a  former  opinion  of  Villeneuve's 
own    to  the  effect  that  the  British  Fleet  could 


AN   EXCITED   AND    ANGRY   SCENE  49 

hardly  remain  where  it  was  much  longer,  if  only 
for  want  of  supplies.  There  was  a  consensus  of 
opinion  on  the  Spanish  side  that  another  fort- 
night's stay  in  port,  at  the  least,  was  absolutely 
imperative,  owing  to  the  backward  state  of  the 
new  levies  on  board  the  Spanish  Fleet.  To  that, 
certain  of  the  French  officers  answered  back  sar- 
castically, and  somebody — Admiral  Magon — used 
a  phrase  which  to  Spanish  susceptibilities  seemed 
to  convey  a  reflection  on  the  honour  of  the  Spanish 
officers.  The  suggestion  instantly  provoked  a  scene. 
One  of  the  Spaniards,  Commodore  Galiano,  leapt 
angrily  to  his  feet.  He  laid  his  hand  on  his  sword- 
hilt,  and  with  flashing  eyes  turned  on  the  French 
rear-admiral  as  though  about  to  offer  him  personal 
violence.  Only  with  great  difficulty,  it  is  said, 
was  Galiano  kept  back  from  challenging  Magon  to 
a  duel  on  the  spot. 

The  Council  then  quieted  down,  after  which 
Admiral  Villeneuve,  who,  we  are  told,  "seemed 
much  put  out,"  was  proceeding  next  to  deal 
with  matters  of  procedure,  when  he  let  fall  some 
allusion  to  the  Spanish  Navy  that  the  Spaniards 
took  exception  to,  as  a  reflection  on  their  service. 
This  time  the  even-tempered  Gravina  himself  took 
up  the  cudgels  and  championed  his  brother  officers. 
He  replied  point  blank  to  the  Commander-in-Chief, 
assuming  a  lofty  and  dignified  air  of  rebuke.  Only 
a  madman,  he  said  in  effect,  would  think  of  sail- 
ing at  that  time.     "  Do  you  not  see,  sir,  that  the 


50  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

barometer  is  falling  ? "  "  It  is  not  the  glass,"  inter- 
jected Admiral  Villeneuve,  "but  the  courage  of 
certain  persons  that  is  falling."  The  sneer  was  too 
much  even  for  the  courtly  Gravina.  "Admiral," 
he  said,  looking  straight  at  Admiral  Villeneuve, 
"  whenever  the  Spanish  fleet  has  gone  into  action, 
side  by  side  with  allies,  as  has  often  happened,  it 
has  ever  borne  its  part  valiantly  and  led  the  way, 
the  foremost  under  fire.  This,  sir,  as  you  yourself 
must  admit,  we  fully  proved  to  you  at  the  recent 
battle  off  Finisterre."  ["Senor  almirante,  siem- 
pre  que  los  espanoles  han  operado  con  escuadras 
combinadas  han  sido  los  primeros  a  entrar  en  fuego ; 
y  esto  lo  hemos  probado  recientemente  en  Finis- 
terre."] Gravina  wound  up  his  reply  by  declaring, 
on  behalf  of  himself  and  all  his  officers :  "  Manana, 
al  mar ! "  ("  To-morrow,  to  sea  1 "). 

Resuming  business  once  more.  Commodore 
Churruca,  a  man  of  very  high  reputation  as  a 
scientific  seaman,  rose  and  adduced  his  arguments 
against  an  early  departure.  The  falling  of  the 
barometer,  he  pointed  out,  at  that  time  of  year 
invariably  heralded  the  approach  of  the  October 
gales.  After  them  the  British  Fleet  would  be 
scattered,  and  the  Combined  Fleet  would  have 
its  opportunity.  Churruca,  after  advancing  other 
practical  objections,  then  changed  his  tone  and 
proceeded  to  say  hard  things  about  his  allies.  He 
frankly  declared  himself  opposed  to  the  Spanish 
Fleet  acting  with  the  French  at  all.     After  what 


WHAT  WAS   DECIDED   ON  51 

had  occurred,  he  said,  he  was  strongly  against  the 
Spanish  Fleet  leaving  Cadiz  in  company  with  the 
French.  What,  indeed,  was  the  worth  of  the  sup- 
port that  their  so-called  allies  were  likely  to  give 
them  in  the  hour  of  battle,  after  what  they  had 
seen  ?  "  Have  we  not  all  seen,"  exclaimed  Chur- 
ruca  heatedly  and  raising  his  voice,  "  in  the  recent 
battle  off  Cape  Finisterre,  the  French  Fleet  stand- 
ing by,  passive  spectators  of  the  capture  of  our 
'San  Rafael'  and  *Firme,'  doing  nothing,  and 
making  no  serious  attempt  at  rescue  ? "  This 
naturally  made  the  French  officers  angry,  and 
then  there  was  another  scene.  When  order  was 
restored,  Churruca,  who  had  remained  standing 
all  the  time,  wound  up  by  outlining  an  elaborate 
plan  of  campaign  of  his  own  for  making  the 
British  Fleet  wear  itself  out  all  over  the  world 
while  the  French  and  Spanish  fleets  remained 
snugly  in  port  awaiting  events  and  their  final 
opportunity. 

The  situation  was  then  discussed  more  calmly, 
and  the  Council  in  the  end  decided  to  adopt  a 
middle  course  between  Admiral  Villeneuve's  pro- 
posal and  the  Spanish  view.  It  was  agreed  not 
to  sail  at  once,  but  to  move  down  to  the  mouth 
of  the  harbour  and  keep  the  Combined  Fleet  all 
ready  for  sailing  until  after  the  bad  weather  was 
over.  Then  they  would  watch  for  the  enemy 
dividing  his  forces,  which  the  British  Fleet  would 
have  to  do  very  soon  for  service  reasons  and  in 


52  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

connexion  with  convoy  arrangements,  and  forth- 
with put  to  sea  and  carry  out  their  new  orders. 
The  Council  of  War  unanimously  declared  that 
they  wished  to  place  on  record  "that  the  vessels 
of  both  nations  were  for  the  most  part  badly 
equipped,  that  a  portion  of  the  crews  had  never 
been  trained  at  sea,  and  that,  in  short,  the  fleet 
was  not  in  a  state  to  perform  the  services  ap- 
pointed to  it."  "Tel  etait  cependant  le  devoue- 
ment  de  tous  ces  hommes  de  coeur,"  says  Jurien  de 
la  Graviere,  "que,  malgrd  ces  sinistres  pressenti- 
ments,  ils  s'inclinerent  tous,  comme  autrefois  les 
vaillants  capitaines  de  Tourville  devant  cet  argu- 
ment sans  replique — '  Ordre  du  Roi  d'attaquer.'  " 
The  Council  then  broke  up,  the  Spanish  officers, 
we  are  told,  as  one  by  one  they  passed  out,  bowing 
to  the  French  Commander-in-Chief  with  a  resigned 
demeanour,  like  gladiators  of  old  Rome  making 
their  salute  in  the  arena :  "Ave,  Caesar,  morituri 
te  salutanti" 

Villeneuve  forwarded  the  decision  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  War  to  Decr^s.  He  added  as  his  personal 
opinion  that  the  Spaniards  were  "quite  incapable 
of  meeting  the  enemy."  All  the  same,  he  said, 
he  intended  to  sail  with  the  first  fair  wind :  "  ne 
consultant  ni  la  force  de  I'ennemi,  ni  la  situation 
de  la  plupart  des  vaisseaux  de  Tarmee  combinee." 
If  the  coming  battle  proved  a  defeat,  which  in  the 
circumstances,  unfortunately,  it  seemed  practically 
certain  to  be,  the  event  would  at  least  prove  that 


ADMIRAL   VILLENEUVE'S   PLAN  53 

he  had  been  right  from  the  first  in  desiring  to 
avoid  the  risk  of  a  battle. 

Next  day  the  Combined  Fleet  began  to  move 
down  from  the  inner  harbour  of  Cadiz  to  the  road- 
stead, so  as  to  be  in  readiness  to  pass  out  at  the 
first  opportunity.  The  Spanish  officers  proved 
true  prophets  about  the  weather.  On  the  10th  it 
came  on  to  blow  hard,  and  the  gale  lasted,  on  and 
off*,  all  the  following  week. 

Admiral  Villeneuve  had  already  held  two  cap- 
tains' meetings  {seances)  of  his  own  officers,  in  order 
to  explain  to  them,  viva  voce,  how  he  proposed  to 
fight  the  coming  battle.  What  passed  discloses 
for  us  one  very  remarkable  circumstance.  The 
French  admiral  foresaw  and  foretold,  practically 
exactly,  the  general  method  of  attack  that  Nelson 
had  himself  actually  informed  his  captains  he 
designed  to  deliver.  It  was  based,  no  doubt,  on 
Villeneuve's  previous  experience  of  Nelson's 
methods,  inspired  by  his  "  souvenir  d'Aboukir  "  to 
a  considerable  extent.  On  their  own  side,  he  said, 
the  main  battle-squadron  of  the  Combined  Fleet, 
the  Corps  de  bataille,  would  number  twenty-one 
sail.  His  remaining  twelve  ships  the  Commander- 
in-Chief  proposed  to  dispose  of  as  a  "  Squadron  of 
observation  "  or  Corps  de  reserve,  under  Admirals 
Gravina  and  Magon,  with  orders  to  act  indepen- 
dently, or  take  post  with  the  main  body  of  the 
fleet,  as  circumstances  might  require.  He  then 
proceeded  to  deal  with  the  enemy's  probable  tactics 


54  THE   ENEMY  AT   TRAFALGAR 

in  the  action.  "  The  British  Fleet,"  he  said,  "  will 
not  be  formed  in  a  line  of  battle  parallel  with  the 
Combined  Fleet,  according  to  the  usage  of  former 
days.  Nelson,  assuming  him  to  be,  as  reported, 
really  in  command,  will  seek  to  break  our  line, 
envelop  our  rear,  and  overpower  with  groups  of 
his  ships  as  many  of  ours  as  he  can  isolate  or  cut 
off."  That,  in  fact,  was  very  much  the  kind  of 
attack  that  Nelson  really  contemplated.  Admiral 
Villeneuve,  however,  went  no  further.  The  idea 
of  meeting  Nelson  with  a  scheme  of  counter 
tactics  did  not  commend  itself  to  him.  Such  a 
thing  would  only  puzzle  his  officers.  He  contented 
himself,  "for  reasons  of  prudence,"  as  Villeneuve 
put  it  to  Decres,  with  an  order  of  battle  accord- 
ing to  the  drill-book.  That,  everybody  could 
understand.  If  the  Combined  Fleet  found  itself 
to  windward,  it  was  to  bear  down  and  engage  ship 
to  ship,  each  vessel  picking  out  her  "opposite 
number."  If  the  Combined  Fleet  was  to  leeward, 
it  would  form  in  close  line  ahead,  await  the  attack, 
and  do  its  best  to  beat  it  off.  Once  the  battle 
opened,  every  captain  must  look  out  for  himself, 
and  trust  to  his  own  exertions  and  personal  desire 
for  glory.  "  All  your  efforts,"  Villeneuve  went  on, 
"must  be  to  assist  one  another,  and,  as  far  as 
possible,  follow  the  movements  of  your  admiral. 
You  must  be  careful  not  to  waste  ammunition  by 
long-range  firing:  wait  and  fight  only  at  close 
quarters.  At  the  same  time  you  must,  each  captain. 


''RELY   ON   YOUR   OWN   COURAGE!"  55 

rely  rather  on  your  own  courage  and  ardour  for 
glory  than  on  the  admiral's  signals.  In  the  smoke 
and  turmoil  of  battle  an  admiral  can  see  very  little 
himself;  often  he  cannot  make  any  signals  at  all."^ 
Admiral  Villeneuve's  words  were  a  quotation 
from  his  "  Ordre  pour  I'Armee  "  issued  on  taking 
up  the  command  of  the  fleet  at  Toulon  [see 
Appendix  A],  a  memo,  as  to  which  had  within 
the  past  few  days  been  issued  to  the  captains.^ 

^  This  is  from  the  pen  of  a  Spanish  admiral  of  the  time,  an  officer  of 
high  professional  eminence  and  character.  It  is  in  point  here  in 
regard  to  its  criticism  of  his  own  brother  officers  and  their  French 
comrades-in-arms  in  action,  and  comparison  of  their  general  adherence 
to  regulation  and  want  of  initiative,  with  the  spirit  in  which  the  British 
captains  bore  themselves  in  similar  circumstances  : 

"  An  Englishman  enters  a  naval  action  witli  a  firm  conviction  that 
his  duty  is  to  hurt  his  enemies,  and  help  his  friends  and  allies,  without 
looking  out  for  directions  in  the  midst  of  the  fight ;  and  while  he  thus 
clears  his  mind  of  all  subsidiary  distractions,  he  rests  in  confidence  on 
the  certainty  that  his  comrades,  actuated  by  the  same  principles  as 
himself,  will  be  bound  by  the  sacred  and  priceless  law  of  mutual  sup- 
port. Accordingly,  both  he  and  all  his  fellows  fix  their  minds  on 
acting  with  zeal  and  judgment  upon  the  spur  of  the  moment,  and  with 
the  certainty  that  they  will  not  be  deserted.  Experience  shows,  on 
the  contrary,  that  a  Frenchman  or  a  Spaniard,  working  under  a  system 
which  leans  to  formality  and  strict  order  being  maintained  in  battle, 
has  no  feeling  for  mutual  support,  and  goes  into  action  with  hesita- 
tion, preoccupied  with  the  anxiety  of  seeing  or  hearing  the  com- 
mander-in-chief's signals  for  such  and  such  manoeuvres ....  Thus 
they  can  never  make  up  their  minds  to  seize  any  favourable  oppor- 
tunity that  may  present  itself.  They  are  fettered  by  the  strict  rule  to 
keep  station,  which  is  enforced  upon  them  in  both  navies ;  and  the 
usual  result  is  that  in  one  place  ten  of  their  ships  may  be  firing  upon 
four,  while  in  another  four  of  their  comrades  may  be  receiving  the  fire 
of  ten  of  the  enemy.  Worst  of  all,  they  are  denied  the  confidence  in- 
spired by  mutual  support,  which  is  as  surely  maintained  by  the  English 
as  it  is  neglected  by  us." 

^  "Some  days  before  we  left  Cadiz,"  says   Captain  Lucas  of  the 


56  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

These  were  the  admiral's  words  in  the  Toulon 
circular :  "  L'  ennemi  ne  se  bornera  pas  a  se  former 
sur  une  ligne  de  bataille  parallele  a  la  notre  et  a 
venir  nous  livrer  un  combat  d'artillerie,  dont  le 
succes  appartient  souvent  au  plus  habile,  mais 
toujours  au  plus  heureux ;  il  cherchera  a  entourer 
notre  arriere-garde,  a  nous  traverser,  et  a  porter 
sur  ceux  de  nos  vaisseaux  qu'il  aurait  desunis  des 
pelotons  des  siens  pour  les  envelopper  et  les  reduire. 
Dans  ce  cas,  c'est  bien  plus  de  son  courage  et  de 
son  amour  de  la  gloire  qu'un  capitaine-commandant 
doit  prendre  conseil  que  les  signaux  de  I'amiral 
qui,  engage  lui-meme  dans  le  combat,  et  enveloppe 
dans  la  fumee,  n'a  pent  etre  plus  la  facilite  d'en 
faire."  Villeneuve  concluded  by  reiterating  this, 
from  the  "Ordre  pour  I'Armee."  It  was  to  be 
the  Order  of  the  Day  for  the  Combined  Fleet 
for  the  coming  battle:  "Tout  capitaine  qui  ne 
serait  pas  dans  le  feu  ne  serait  pas  a  son  poste  .  .  . 
et  un  signal  pour  Vy  rappeler  serait  pour  lui  une 
tache  deshonorante ! " 

"  Redoutable,"  "  every  captain  received  from  the  admiral  an  order  in 
writing  to  hold  himself  in  readiness  to  make  sail.  The  same  order 
drew  the  captains'  attention  to  the  circular  letter  the  admiral  had 
addressed  to  them  before  leaving  Toulon,  in  which  he  informed  them 
of  what  he  intended  to  do  on  meeting  the  enemy,  and  what  every  ship 
was  to  do.  Thus  far  in  advance,  it  would  seem,  did  the  admiral  foresee 
the  manner  in  which  we  were  actually  attacked  in  the  battle.  Had  his 
dispositions  been  generally  followed,  twenty  or  twenty-two  ships  of  the 
Combined  Fleet  would  not  have  had  to  contend  with  the  whole 
English  fleet  of  twenty-seven  (including  seven  three-deckers),  and 
some  of  ours  would  not  have  had  to  succumb  as  they  did  in  spite  of 
prodigies  of  valour  and  the  most  stubborn  resistance.'' 


THE   LINE   OF   BATTLE 


57 


The  "Line  of  Battle,"  as  finally  drawn  up  by 
Admirals  Villeneuve  and  Gravina,  was  promulgated 
to  the  flag  officers  and  captains  throughout  the 
Combined  Fleet  on  the  16th  of  October.  It  was 
in  the  following  form. 


Van. 

Names. 
Pluton 

Monarca 
Fougueux   . 

Santa  Ana  . 

Indomptable 
San  Justo    . 
Intr^pide    . 


Centre. 
Redoutable 

San  Leandro 
Neptune 


Bucentaure 


Santisima  Trinidad 

H^ros 

San  Agustin 


LINE  OF  BATTLE. 

2nd  Squadron.  Vice-Admiral  Alava. 

Guns.  Commanders. 

.     74     Commodore  Julien  M.  Cosmao- 

Kerjulien. 
.     74     Captain  Don  Teodoro  Argumosa. 
.     74     Captain  Louis  Alexis  Baudoin 

Vice-Admiral   Don    Ign.   Maria 
.   112  .      de  Alava. 

Captain  Don  Jose  Gardoqui. 
.     80     Commodore  Jean  Joseph  Hubert. 
.     74     Captain  Don  Miguel  Gaston. 
.     74     Commodore  Louis  Antoine  Cy- 
prian Infemet. 


\st  Squadron. 

.     74 


64 
84 


m 


136 

74 
74 


Vke- Admiral  Villeneuve. 

Captain  Jean    Jaques    Etienne 

Lucas. 
Captain  Don  Jos6  Quevedo. 
Commodore    Esprit    Tranquille 

Maistral. 

rVice-Admiral    Pierre     Charles 
I     Jean  Baptiste  Sylvestre  Ville- 

Ineuve. 
Captain  Jean  Jaques  Magendie. 

Rear- Admiral  Don  Baltasar  Hi- 
dalgo Cisneros 

Commodore  Don  Francisco  X. 
de  Uriarte 

Captain  Jean  B.  J.  Remi  Poulain. 
Captain  Don  Felipe  Xado  Cagi- 
gal. 


58 


THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 


Rear. 
Mont  Blanc 

3rd  Squadron. 

.     74 

San  Francisco  de  Asis 
Duguay  Trouin 

.     74 
.     74 

Formidable 

. 

.     80 

Rayo 

• 

.   100 

Scipion 
Neptuno 

. 

.     74 
.     80 

Rear-Admiral  Dumanoir. 
Commodore  G.  J.  Noel  La  Vil- 

legris. 
Captain  Don  Luis  de  Flores. 
Captain  Claude  Touffet. 
TRear-Admiral    P.    R.     M.     E. 
-j      Dumanoir  Le  Pelley. 
[ Captain  Jean  Marie  Letellier. 
Commodore  Don  Enrique  Mac- 

donel. 
Captain  Charles  Bellanger. 
Commodore  Don   H.  Cayetano 
Valdez. 


Squadron  of  Observation.^ 


San  Juan  Nepomuceno    .     74 


Berwick  ^ 


74 


Admiral  Gravina, 
Commodore  Don  Cosme  Damian 

de  Churruca. 
Commodore  Jean  Gilles  Filhol- 

Camas. 

{Admiral  Don  Federico  Gravina. 
Rear-Admiral      Don      Antonio 
Escano. 
Captain  Gabriel  Denieport. 
Commodore  Don  Jose  de  Vargas. 
Captain  Jaques  Epron. 
Captain     C.    E.     L'Hopitalier 

Villemadrin. 
Captain  Don  Antonio  Pareja. 
-Admiral    Charles    Magon 
Clos  Dor^. 
lin  C.  Letourneur. 
Captain  Don  Jose  Alcedo. 
Captain  Pierre  Paul  Gourr^ge. 
Commodore  Don  Dionisio  Alcala 
Galiano. 
1  ''  We  do  not  find  any  documents  which  show  clearly  the  nature 
of  the  command  exercised  by  Admiral  Gravina  when  the  Combined 
Fleet  left  Cadiz.     In   his  correspondence  with  the  minister  before 
putting  to  sea  Admiral  Villeneuve  does  not  mention  the  Squadron  of 
Observation.     This  makes  its  appearance  for  the  first  time  in  the 
despatch  written  after  the  battle  of  October  21st.     There  is  room  for 
supposing  that  Admiral  Gravina  had  independent  command  of  the 
Squadron  of  Observation." — Histoire  de  la  Marine  Fran^aise  sous  le 
Consulat  et  VEmpire,  p.  228.     By  Captaiu  E.  Chevalier. 
'^  Formerly  British  men-of-war. 


Achille 
San  Ildefonso 
Argonaute  . 
Swiftsure^  . 

.  74 
.     74 

.  74 
.     74 

Argonauta  . 

.     80 

Alg69iras    . 

.     74 

Montanez    . 

Aigle 

Bahama 

.    74 

.  74 
.     74 

{Rear-A 
deC 
Captaii 


TACTICS    FOR   THE   BATTLE 


59 


Frigates  and  Corvettes 

. 

Rhin 

40 

Captain  Chesneau. 

Hortense     . 

40 

Captain  La  Marre  La  Meillerie. 

Com6Ue       . 

40 

Captain  De  Martinenque. 

Themis 

40 

Captain  Jugan. 

Hermione 

40 

Captain  Mahe. 

Furet 

18 

Lieutenant  Dnmay. 

Argus 

16 

Lieutenant  Taillard. 

Admiral  Villeneuve  fixed  the  numerical  strengh 
of  his  battle  squadron,  the  Corps  de  bataille,  at 
twenty-one  ships.  That,  according  to  his  latest 
intelligence,  was  the  strength  of  the  British  Fleet 
then  off  Cadiz.  It  allowed  also  for  withdrawals 
to  Gibraltar  for  water  and  stores  of  various  ships 
from  time  to  time.  Gravina's  twelve  ships,  the 
so-called  Corps  de  reserve^  or  Squadron  of  Observa- 
tion, was  to  be  kept  as  an  independent  body  up  to 
the  moment  of  joining  battle.  Its  station  was 
to  be  to  windward  of  the  rest  of  the  fleet.  It 
would  thus  be  available  to  reinforce  any  part  of 
the  battle-squadron  line  that  might  be  hard  pressed ; 
to  parry  a  threatened  blow,  or  to  strike  a  counter- 
stroke.  The  tactical  formation  was  in  itself  an 
excellent  one,  and  had  been  greatly  favoured  by 
admirals  like  D'Orvilliers  and  De  Guichen,  the 
fine  fleur  of  the  tacticians  of  the  American  War 
time,  when  at  the  head  of  the  great  Franco- 
Spanish  combined  fleets  that,  in  those  dark  days 
for  England,  rode  for  three  summers  in  succession 
masters  of  the  Channel.  To  make  efficient  use 
of  the  formation,  however,  better-trained  officers 


60  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

and  crews  were  needed  than  Admiral  Villeneuve 
had  at  his  disposal.  As  will  appear  also,  Admiral 
Gravina  himself,  on  the  morning  of  the  battle, 
upset  the  whole  scheme,  by,  at  the  last  moment, 
throwing  away  the  advantage  of  the  windward 
berth,  and  linking  up  with  the  rest  of  the  fleet,  in 
prolongation  of  the  main  battle-line.  As  to  the 
intermingling  of  the  French  and  Spanish  ships, 
that  was  not  an  innovation.  Exactly  the  same 
thing  had  been  done  in  the  Combined  Fleet  under 
the  admirals  named,  during  their  Channel  cruises 
in  the  American  War.  There  is  no  real  reason 
to  impute  a  sinister  motive  to  Admiral  Ville- 
neuve— as  has  been  done — in  so  arranging  the 
component  units  of  his  command. 

In  all,  the  Combined  Fleet  numbered  thirty- 
three  sail  of  the  Line.  They  comprised : — one 
four-decker,  the  "Santisima  Trinidad,"  of  131 
guns  (really  a  gigantic  three-decker,  with  a  fourth 
tier  of  guns  mounted  along  her  gangways) ;  three 
other  Spanish  first-rates,  three-deckers,  two  ships 
of  112  guns  each,  and  one  ship  of  100  guns ;  six 
80-gun  ships,  two-deckers  of  the  largest  size,  of 
which  four  were  French  and  two  Spanish ;  twenty- 
two  74's,  fourteen  French  and  eight  Spanish ;  and 
one  Spanish  64-gun  ship,  also,  of  course,  a  two- 
decker.  Eighteen  of  the  total  were  French,  and 
fifteen  Spanish..  All  told,  there  were  21,580 
officers  and  men  under  Admiral  Villeneuve's 
orders,  and  the  Combined  Fleet  mounted  2,626 


STATE   OF   THE   FRENCH    FLEET  6l 

broadside  guns,  not  taking  carronades  into 
account.! 

As  to  the  ships  of  the  Combined  Fleet.  Accord- 
ing to  Admiral  Villeneuve's  report  on  them  to  the 
Minister  of  Marine,  many  of  the  French  ships 
were  in  indifferent  trim  and  badly  wanted  docking; 
notably  the  "Formidable,"  the  "Mont  Blanc," 
the  "Fougueux,"  and  the  "Swiftsure"  (a  74 
captured  from  the  British  Navy  some  four  years 
before).  Others,  such  as  the  "  Scipion "  and  the 
"Aigle,"  wanted  re-rigging  entirely  before  they 
could  be  called  efficient.  The  "Pluton"  and 
"H^ros"  were,  he  said,  slow  and  unhandy.  Others, 
such  as  the  "Algd^iras"  (Rear- Admiral  Magon's 
flagship),  the  " Indomptable,"  "Achille,"  and  "Ber- 
wick" (another  capture  by  France  from  the  British 
Navy),  although  they  had  weak  crews,  were  them- 
selves in  a  satisfactory  state.  The  rest,  particularly 
his  own  flagship,  the  "Bucentaure"  (a  new  80- 
gun  ship),  the  "  Neptune,"  "  Argonaute,"  "  Duguay 
Trouin"  and  the  "  Redoutable,"  Villeneuve  re- 
turned as  "good  ships  and  crews,  fit  for  anything." 

Except   for  the    "Santa   Ana,"    "Kayo,"  and 

^  There  were  twenty-seven  ships  of  the  Line  in  Lord  Nelson's 
battle-fleet  on  Friday  afternoon,  the  18th  of  October,  1805.  They 
comprised  seven  three-deckers,  and  twenty  two-deckers  :  or,  classified 
in  another  way,  three  first-rates,  each  of  100  guns;  four  second- 
rates,  each  of  98  guns ;  and  twenty  third-rates,  one  ship  of 
80  guns,  sixteen  74's  and  three  64^s.  Besides  these,  of  ships  "  under 
the  Line,"  there  were  four  frigates,  a  schooner  and  a  cutter.  In 
round  numbers.  Nelson's  fleet  was  manned  by  16,820  oflficers  and 
men,  and  mounted  2,148  broadside  guns  (exclusive  of  carronades). 


62  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

"San  Justo,"  which  according  to  the  Spaniards 
had  been  hastened  out  of  the  dockyard  before 
their  refit  was  complete,  the  Spanish  ships  were, 
as  a  whole,  in  fair  order,  although  their  gunnery 
arrangements  were  reported  in  some  cases  to  be 
defective.  They  had  collected  sufficient  men  ;  but 
barely  10  per  cent  were  seamen.  The  "Principe 
de  Asturias,"  for  one,  bore  1,113  all  told  on  her 
books ;  the  "  Santa  Ana,"  1,188 ;  the  "  Santisima 
Trinidad,"  1,048.  Of  other  ships,  the  "Rayo" 
carried  830,  the  "Neptuno"  800,  the  "Argonauta" 
798,  and  so  on ;  down  to  the  little  San  Leandro 
with  over  600  of  all  ranks  and  ratings. 

Events  began  to  move  quickly  as  the  middle  of 
the  month  was  reached.  On  the  15th  of  October, 
the  day  before  he  issued  his  "Line  of  Battle," 
Villeneuve  got  his  first  inkling  of  the  coming  of 
Admiral  Rosily.  The  intelligence  came  in  quite 
an  unofficial  way,  by  private  letters  from  Bayonne. 
He  took  the  news  very  calmly.  Apparently  he 
did  not  at  all  realize  its  serious  import  for  himself. 
This  is  what  Villeneuve  said  to  Decres  about  it, 
writing  that  same  afternoon: — "Des  lettres  par- 
ticuli^res  de  Bayonne  nous  annoncent  I'arrivee 
du  Vice-amiral  Rosily,  charge  d'une  mission  pour 
Cadix.  Rien  ne  pouvait  m'etre  plus  agreable 
que  cette  nouvelle.  Je  suis  au  ddsespoir  d'etre  tou- 
jours  seul  a  correspondre  avec  Votre  Excellence 
sur  des  objets  aussi  d^licats.  L'experience  et  les 
lumieres  du  Vice-amiral  Rosily  viendront  bien  a 


ADMIRAL    ROSILY  63 

propos  a  mon  aide,  et  lorsqu'il  aura  vu,  je  ne  crain- 
drai  nuUement  son  jugement  et  sur  le  present  et 
sur  le  passe  I  " 

Admiral  Rosily  was  at  the  top  of  the  Vice- 
Admirals'  list.  He  had  not  been  afloat  for  twelve 
or  fourteen  years,  and  was  understood  in  naval 
circles  in  France  to  have  given  up  the  idea  of 
hoisting  his  flag  again,  although  his  name  was  still 
on  the  active  list.  For  the  past  ten  years  scope 
had  been  found  for  his  well-known  administrative 
talents  on  various  special  "missions,"  to  use 
Admiral  Villeneuve's  word,  and  as  Inspector- 
General  of  naval  arsenals  and  dockyards,  also  in 
departmental  work  at  the  Ministry  of  Marine 
connected  with  scientific  and  hydrographic  matters. 
Thus,  on  the  face  of  things,  there  was  little  about 
the  sending  of  Admiral  Rosily  to  Cadiz,  to  make 
Villeneuve  uneasy  for  his  own  position. 

Not  many  hours  later,  however,  further  news 
came  to  hand  that  put  another  complexion  on 
the  affair.  A  private  letter  from  Madrid  was 
sent  to  Villeneuve.  Admiral  Rosily,  said  the 
letter,  had  just  arrived  there.  He  was  travelling 
post,  hastening  with  extraordinary  despatch  for 
Cadiz.  Not  a  word  could  be  gleaned  as  to  what 
he  was  to  do  when  he  got  there;  but,  said  the 
writer,  he  would  probably  be  delayed  in  Madrid 
for  a  day  or  two,  owing  to  a  breakdown  to  his 
travelling  carriage  just  outside  the  capital.  Now 
a  suspicion  crossed  Villeneuve's  mind.     It  dawned 


64  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

on  him  that  something  was  kept  back.  There 
was  also,  it  would  appear,  a  persistent  rumour 
in  Cadiz  that  the  Commander-in-Chief  was  to  be 
superseded.  He,  the  officer  in  supreme  authority 
at  Cadiz,  had  not  had  a  line  from  Paris  in  regard 
to  the  matter,  had  not  heard  a  word  from  his  own 
immediate  superior,  the  Minister  of  Marine,  to 
advise  him  of  the  coming  of  Rosily.  Why  all 
this  secrecy?  Why  this  haste?  What  was  be- 
hind it  all?  What  did  it  forebode  to  himself? 
With  his  mind  full  of  anxiety.  Admiral  Villeneuve 
expressed  his  deep  concern  to  the  Minister  of 
Marine.  "  I  shall  be  happy,"  wrote  Villeneuve,  "  to 
yield  the  first  place  to  Rosily,  if  I  am  allowed  to 
have  the  second  ;  but  it  will  be  too  hard  to  have  to 
give  up  all  hope  of  being  vouchsafed  the  oppor- 
tunity of  proving  that  I  am  worthy  of  a  better 
fate." 

His  plans  were  made — if  only  the  wind  would 
change  out  of  the  west  and  afford  a  chance  of  put- 
ting them  in  execution.  What  he  had  wanted  to  do 
first  of  all,  wrote  Villeneuve  to  Decres,  was  to  try 
to  run  out  to  sea  for  two  hundred  leagues. 
Then  he  would  double  back  and  make  for  the 
Straits.  An  east  wind  would  take  them  out, 
and  the  impending  gale  from  the  south-west,  when 
it  came  on,  would  be  to  their  advantage  and 
carry  the  Combined  Fleet  back  and  through  into 
the  Mediterranean.  Yet,  even  if  the  wind  favoured 
him,  he  feared  the  enemy's  watch  on  Cadiz  was 


HIS   ONLY   CHANCE  65 

too  close  to  give  him  an  opportunity  of  getting 
away  unseen.  As  he  wrote,  said  Villeneuve, 
there  were  five  English  frigates,  a  brig,  and  a 
schooner,  to  be  counted  in  the  offing.  A  sortie 
might  be  attempted  at  night,  but  there  was  no 
moon  just  now.  It  was  hopeless  for  such  a  fleet 
as  his  to  try  to  go  out  of  harbour  in  the  dark. 
Besides  all  that,  half  his  ships  sailed  so  badly, 
were  such  slow  craft,  that,  even  supposing  he  did 
get  clear  off*  to  sea,  he  would  assuredly  be  over- 
taken and  brought  to  battle  before  he  had  got  far. 
The  alternative  was  to  attempt  to  make  coast- 
wise for  the  Straits,  and  take  their  chance  of 
the  consequences.  With  a  fleet  like  that,  how- 
ever, upwards  of  a  third  of  it  slow  ships  and 
manned  by  raw  Spanish  landsmen,  the  risk  was 
enormous.  They  would  almost  certainly  be  caught 
half  way,  and  annihilation  must  follow.  "  To  leave 
Cadiz,"  said  Villeneuve,  "without  being  sure  of 
passing  the  Straits  within  a  few  hours  will  mean 
the  certainty  of  being  brought  to  action  by  a 
superior  enemy  and  the  loss  of  ever)rthing.  I 
cannot  believe,"  he  added,  "  that  it  is  His  Imperial 
Majesty's  intention  to  expose  so  large  a  portion  of 
his  naval  forces  to  such  a  risk,  and  one  that  does 
not  offer  any  chance  of  acquiring  glory."  To  make 
for  the  Straits  along  the  coast  was,  all  the  same, 
the  only  plan  for  him  to  adopt.  He  had  direct 
orders  from  the  Emperor  himself  to  go  out  without 
further  delay,  and  go  out  he  must  and  would. 


66  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

He  only  waited  now  for  the  wind  to  change 
and  render  exit  possible.  As  soon  as  the  wind  did 
change,  Rear- Admiral  Magon,  with  part  of  the 
French  Third  Squadron,  would  sally  out,  sweep 
back  the  English  cruisers,  and  make  a  bold  recon- 
naissance seaward  to  ascertain  Nelson's  exact 
strength.  While  that  was  being  done,  the  re- 
mainder of  the  Combined  Fleet  would  be  working 
out  of  harbour,  and  he  trusted  that  within  twenty- 
four  hours  all  would  be  able  to  get  out  and  be 
fairly  on  their  way.  The  wind  must  change  soon. 
It  had  blown  from  the  west  for  upwards  of  ten 
days  without  shifting  once. 

The  wind  began  to  show  signs  of  change  during 
the  evening  of  the  17th.  It  backed  and  fell 
away  fitfully  to  light  and  variable  airs  until  the 
afternoon  of  the  following  day,  when  it  seemed 
likely  to  freshen  from  the  eastward,  fair  for  leaving 
Cadiz.  It  was  Admiral  Villeneuve's  wished-for 
opportunity,  and,  as  things  happened,  he  had  had 
offered  him  that  same  morning,  in  addition,  a  new 
and  powerful  incentive  for  seizing  it.  An  official 
message  came  up  the  coast  from  Tarifa  and  Alge- 
c^iras,  signalled  along  the  line  of  Spanish  look-out 
posts,  to  the  effect  that  six  British  men-of-war, 
apparently  detached  from  the  enemy's  main  fleet, 
had  been  sighted  passing  through  the  Straits  for 
Gibraltar.^     That  meant,  according  to  Villeneuve's 

^  The  news  was  strangely  belated.  Admiral  Louis's  squadron  had 
parted  company  with  Nelson  more  than  a  fortnight  before. 


"PREPARE   TO   MAKE   SAIL!"  67 

calculations,  a  temporary  reduction  of  his  op- 
ponent's strength  by  a  fifth  of  what  he  believed 
it  to  be.  He  had,  of  course,  no  means  of  know- 
ing that  fresh  ships  to  an  equal  number  had  recently 
joined  Nelson  from  England.  It  afforded  also  a 
reason  for  leaving  port  exactly  in  accordance  with 
the  recommendations  of  the  Council  of  War,  and 
effectively  met  one  of  the  principal  Spanish  ob- 
jections to  sailing,  as  raised  at  the  Council.  Ville- 
neuve  made  up  his  mind  to  quit  Cadiz  forthwith. 

He  signalled  to  the  Spanish  flagship  for  Admiral 
Gravina,  second-in-command  of  the  Combined 
Fleet,  to  come  on  board  the  French  flagship 
"  Bucentaure "  at  once.  The  Spanish  admiral 
came.  In  reply  to  Villeneuve,  he  expressed  his 
readiness  to  sail  that  afternoon.  He  was  prepared, 
Gravina  said,  to  follow  the  movements  of  the  Im- 
perial Navy  in  everything.  Those  were  his  instruc- 
tions from  Madrid.  That  was  all  that  passed,  and 
it  was  enough.  Gravina  went  down  the  side  of 
the  "Bucentaure"  into  his  boat,  and  Villeneuve 
forthwith  ran  up  the  general  signal,  "  Prepare  to 
make  sail."  He  intended  to  try  to  get  out  of 
harbour  by  sunset.  But  once  more,  at  the  last 
moment,  the  wind  failed  him.  It  dropped  after 
four  o'clock,  and  died  away  to  almost  a  dead  calm. 

Disappointed  as  he  was.  Admiral  Villeneuve  de- 
termined to  persevere.  Orders  were  sent  round 
for  the  whole  fleet  to  be  ready  to  weigh  anchor 
and  put  to  sea  at  daybreak  next  morning. 


CHAPTER    IV 

ADMIRALS  AND   CAPTAINS   OF  THE 
COMBINED  FLEET 

THESE  were  some  of  the  men  who  were  to 
lead  the  Combined  Fleet  on  the  coming  day 
of  battle.  There  were  many  gallant  and  high- 
spirited  officers  on  board  both  the  French  and 
Spanish  ships,  and  some  of  them  were  men  of 
reputation  among  their  countrymen  for  daring 
and  resource. 

Concerning  Admiral  Villeneuve,  apart  from 
what  has  been  already  said,  there  are  other  in- 
teresting details  of  which  some  mention  should 
be  made.  He  was  originally  an  officer  of  the 
Royal  Navy  of  France,  one  of  the  few  members 
of  the  noblesse  in  the  sea-service  who  did  not 
throw  up  their  commissions  and  quit  the  country 
at  the  Revolution.  As  a  young  "garde  de  pavilion" 
he  had  served  with  the  famous  Bailli  de  SufFren  in 
his  "beaux  combats  de  ITnde,"  as  the  French  Navy 
to  this  day  calls  the  battles  of  De  Suffren's  heroi- 
cally contested  campaign  during  the  years  1782 
and  1783.    The  Revolution  gave  him  his  captaincy, 

68 


"A   LUCKY   MAN" 


69 


and  he  had  hoisted  his  flag  as  rear-admiral  in  1796, 
before  he  was  thirty-three.  Everybody  looked  on 
Rear- Admiral  Villeneuve  (he  dropped  the  "de" 
before  his  name  after  1793)  as  a  very  keen  and 
able  officer,  of  a  studious  turn,  exceptionally  well 
informed  on  all  professional  topics,  and  a  versatile 
and  clever  tactician. 
Napoleon  met  him  first 
at  the  siege  of  Toulon 
in  1793,  and  after  that 
saw  something  more  of 
him  during  the  expedi- 
tion to  Egypt.  Ville- 
neuve was  junior  flag- 
officer  in  Brueys'  fleet, 
and  he  was  the  only 
French  admiral  who  got 
away  after  the  battle  of 
the  Nile.  That  escape, 
early  on  the  morning 
after  the  disaster  — 
though  it  was  hardly 
a  feat  of  arms  to  take 
much  pride  in — Nap- 
oleon thought  very 
highly  of,  and  he  long  afterwards  spoke  of  Ville- 
neuve as  "a  lucky  man."  To  Napoleon's  belief 
in  his  "  luck,"  indeed,  Villeneuve  owed  his  present 
command.  Personally,  Admiral  Villeneuve  was 
a  gentleman  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word ;  well 


ARMS   OF   VILLENEUVE 

[Gules :  sem^e  of  escutcheons  or.  Six  lances  in 
saltire  of  ^  the  second.  An  inescutcheon  azure, 
charged  with  a  fleur  de  Its  or.] 


70  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

bred  and  courteous,  very  quiet  and  reserved  in 
manner,  of  unblemished  character  as  a  man  of 
honour,  and  devotedly  attached  to  his  home.  His 
personal  courage  was  above  question.  That  was 
in  his  blood.  His  ancestry  itself  forbade  the 
thought  of  anything  else.  The  Villeneuves  did 
not  beget  cowards.  One  Villeneuve  fell,  sword 
in  hand,  at  the  side  of  Roland  in  the  pass  of 
Roncesvalles.  Another  charged  side  by  side  with 
our  own  Coeur  de  Lion  in  Palestine,  and  left  his 
bones  out  there.  A  descendant  of  the  famous 
Villeneuve  "Riche  d'Honneur,"  leader  of  the 
Lances  of  Aragon,  Bayard's  friend  and  trusty 
comrade  in  arms,  of  Raymond  de  Villeneuve, 
hardly  less  renowned  in  arms,  and  of  that  grand 
old  Romee,  the  historic  Seneschal  de  Provence, 
whom  Dante  met  in  Paradise — 

Luce  la  luce  di  Romeo  di  cui 

Fu  I'opra  grande  e  bella  mal  gradita. 

'  Shines  Romeo's  light,  whose  goodly  deed  and  fair. 
Met  ill  acceptance.' 

— a  knight  of  Malta  himself,  the  ninety-first 
Villeneuve  (counting  in  Grand  Master  H^lion) 
that  the  family  had  sent  into  the  Order,  could 
hardly  be  a  coward.  Poltron  de  tete^  in  the  words 
of  Napoleon's  bitter  sneer,  as  the  French  leader 
may,  in  regard  to  the  very  exceptional  circum- 
stances of  that  campaign,  have  seemed  in  some 
degree,  none,  as  the  hour  of  battle  drew  on,  could 
speak  of  Admiral  Villeneuve  as  Poltron  de  cceur. 


THE  SECOND  IN  COMMAND  71 

Admiral  Villeneuve  went  forth  to  meet  his  fate  at 
Trafalgar  with  a  silent  prayer  on  his  lips  to  the 
good  Sainte  Roseleyne  of  his  House,  and  a  farewell 
thought  at  heart  for  that  dear  wife  far  away  in 
their  home  among  the  pinewoods  of  Bargemon  in 
Provence,  whom  he  never  more  should  see  in  life, 
braced  up  to  meet  his  doom  in  a  spirit  in  keeping 
with  the  traditions  of  his  line.^ 

Of  Rear-Admiral  Dumanoir  le  Pelley,  the 
second-in-command  of  the  French  Fleet,  very 
little  is  on  record.  He  was  a  young  officer,  only 
in  his  thirty-fifth  year  (eight  years  younger  than 
Admiral  Villeneuve).  Dumanoir,  like  his  chief, 
had  worn  the  King's  uniform  in  the  navy  of  the 
anden  regime,  which  he  first  entered  eighteen  years 
before.  He,  too,  had  good  blood  in  his  veins.  The 
family  of  Du  Manoir  le  Pelle,  as  the  young  "  garde 
de  pavilion  "  wrote  his  name  when  he  took  up  his 
first  commission,  was  among  the  oldest  and 
wealthiest  among  the  Seigneurie  of  the  Cotentin, 
owning  large  estates ;  and  one  that  had  already 
given  two  admirals  to  the  navy  of  France.     It  was 

*  They  hold  Admiral  Villeneuve's  memory  in  very  affectionate  regard 
at  Bargemon,  and  the  visitor  from  England  who  is  so  fortunate  as  to 
be  accorded  the  entree  to  the  ancestral  home  of  the  Villeueuves,  will 
see  there  to-day  a  portrait  in  oils  of  the  admiral,  and  round  the  walls 
of  the  schoolroom  some  cleverly  executed  water-colour  sketches  of 
ships  he  served  in  before  he  got  his  flag,  done  by  him  and  sent  home. 
At  Trafalgar,  Admiral  Villeneuve  had  a  young  nephew,  a  midshipman, 
serving  as  one  of  his  aides-de-camp  on  board  the  "  Bucentaure."  That 
officer's  great-grandson  is  a  lieutenant  de  vaisseau  in  the  French  Navy 
of  our  own  time. 


72  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

said  that  he  owed  his  promotion  to  flag  rank  to 
Murat's  private  influence  with  Napoleon.  Captain 
Dumanoir  commanded  the  frigate  in  which  Murat 
made  his  escape  from  Egypt,  together  with 
Marmont  and  Lannes,  at  the  same  time  that 
Napoleon  himself  got  safely  away  in  another 
vessel.  Very  soon  afterwards  he  hoisted  his  flag. 
Dumanoir  had  already  had  experience  as  second- 
in-command  in  battle,  with  Admiral  Linois  in  the 
action  of  Alge9iras. 

The  third-in-command,  Rear-Admiral  Magon, 
was  another  sort  of  man.  He  was  of  the  same 
age  as  Admiral  Villeneuve,  like  whom  he  was  of 
noble  birth,  and  had  had  his  early  training  as  an 
officer  of  the  Navy  of  the  anden  regime,  De 
Magon  de  Clos-Dor^  was  his  full  name;  his 
family  belonging  to  the  old  Breton  noblesse,  to 
one  of  the  junior  branches  of  an  illustrious  twelfth- 
century  house,  the  head  of  which  was  the  Marquis 
de  Gervaisais.  As  a  young  "  garde  de  pavilion  "  on 
board  the  Comte  d'Orvillier's  flagship  in  his  battle 
with  Admiral  Keppel  off*  Ushant,  Magon  had  had 
his  baptism  of  fire  as  a  boy  of  fourteen.  After 
that  he  witnessed  De  Guichen's  three  drawn 
battles  with  Rodney  in  the  West  Indies  in  1781. 
The  ship  he  was  in,  the  "  Caton,"  was  sent  out  of 
the  fleet  to  repair  damages,  and  so  missed  the 
great  battle  of  the  12th  of  April,  1782,  in  which 
the  Comte  De  Grasse  experienced  disaster,  but 
a  pursuing  British  squadron  intercepted  the  "  Caton" 


HAD   MAGON    BEEN  THE   LEADER  73 

on  her  way  to  port,  and  young  Magon  ended  his 
first  war  as  a  prisoner  in  England.  After  that 
many  things  had  happened,  Magon,  however, 
always  showing  himself  a  bold  and  resolute  officer. 
In  1804  Napoleon  had  selected  him  to  have  charge 
of  the  advance  guard  of  gunboats  to  lead  the 
invasion-flotilla  across  to  Deal ;  but  circumstances 
had  removed  Magon  thence  and  sent  him  to  join 
Villeneuve  in  the  West  Indies.  He  returned  with 
the  Combined  Fleet,  and  so  found  himself  at  Cadiz 
on  the  eve  of  great  events. 

Whether,  indeed,  Rear-Admiral  Magon  might 
not  have  proved  a  better  man  than  his  chief  for 
Napoleon's  purposes  during  the  campaign  before 
Trafalgar,  is  a  question.  "From  my  own  know- 
ledge of  Magon,  with  whom  I  had  been  brought 
into  relation  in  various  missions,"  says  De  S^gur, 
Napoleon's  aide-de-camp,  "I  believe  with  Laur- 
iston,  that  had  he  been  in  Villeneuve's  place,  the 
orders  of  the  Emperor  would  have  been  obeyed, 
the  invasion  probably  effected,  and  the  face  of  the 
world  altered."  Magon,  continues  De  Sdgur, 
was  "  a  daring  and  impetuous  fellow,"  and  had 
been  so  angered  over  the  result  of  the  encounter 
with  Admiral  Calder  (off  Cape  Finisterre  in  the 
previous  July,  which  led  to  Villeneuve's  retirement 
to  Cadiz),  that  he  quite  forgot  his  position  and 
gave,  before  everybody  on  his  own  quarter-deck,  an 
amazing  display  of  insubordination.  "  I  have  it 
from  Lauriston,  afterwards  a  marshal  and  peer  of 


74  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

France,  then  aide-de-camp  to  Napoleon,  who  was 
in  Villeneuve's  fleet,"  relates  De  Segur  further, 
"that  on  the  day  after  this  battle.  Rear- Admiral 
Magon  was  a  prey  to  such  violent  indignation 
when  the  first  signal  was  given  by  the  admiral  to 
let  the  English  Fleet  go,  that  he  stamped  and 
foamed  at  the  mouth,  and  that  whilst  he  was 
furiously  pacing  his  own  ship,  as  that  of  the 
admiral  passed  in  its  retreat,  he  gave  vent  to 
furious  exclamations,  and  flung  at  him  in  his  rage 
whatever  happened  to  be  at  hand,  including  his 
field-glass  and  even  his  wig,  both  of  which  fell 
into  the  sea ;  but  Villeneuve  was  not  only  too  far 
off  for  these  missiles  to  reach  him,  but  was  entirely 
out  of  hearing."  Magon  had  a  touch  of  reckless- 
ness which  Villeneuve's  more  placid  temperament 
lacked,  that  possibly  might  have  shaped  things 
somewhat  differently  up  to  a  certain  point.  What 
the  ultimate  issue  would  have  been  is  quite  another 
matter — with  Nelson  at  large,  and  tough  old 
Cornwallis  ready  for  all  comers  off*  Ushant. 

Of  the  French  captains,  "  Va  de  Bon  Coeur " 
Cosmao  was  as  good  a  man  as  any  in  the  French 
Navy.  "  Va  de  Bon  Cceur"  was  his  men's  name  for 
the  cheery  commander  of  the  "Pluton,"  who,  as 
the  senior  captain,  led  Admiral  Villeneuve's  main 
battle-squadron.  A  burly,  sturdy  Breton,  "avec 
le  physique  de  son  emploi,"  and  with  seamanship 
in  every  detail  at  his  finger-tips,  was  Cosmao- 
Kerjulien,'  "I'habile  et  intr^pide  Cosmao."    Begin- 


'       J        >       3 


i-'s.MAo-KJ-.KK  i.ii'.N    wi-     iiih        PLUTON 


CAYETANO   VALDEZ   OF    THE    '*  NEPTUNO  " 

To  face  p.  74 


TWO   OF  THE  BEST  75 

ning  life  by  running  away  to  sea  at  the  age  of 
twelve,  before  he  was  twenty  he  had  been  in 
action,  it  was  said,  a  dozen  times.  Cosmao  it  was 
who  had  carried  out  the  attack  on  Diamond  Rock, 
Martinique,  in  the  pre- 
vious May;  and  in  the 
fight  with  Calder  he  had 
won  credit  for  two  brave 
efforts  to  rescue  the 
Spanish  ships  that  were 
lost,  after  which  he  did 
actually  save  a  third  ship, 
the  French  "Atlas,"  from 
sharing  their  fate.  An- 
other fine  fellow,  who 
knew  his  business,  was 
Infemet,  of  the  "  Intrd- 
pide."  He  also  had  seen 
his  first  war  service  in  the 
Old  Navy  of  the  Monar- 
chy, and  in  one  battle,  as 
a  boy  "  mousse  "  (powder 
monkey),  had  undergone 
the    somewhat     unusual 

•  PU     •  U1  captain:    FRENCH   NAVY,   1805 

expenence  of  bemg  blown  ^ 

up  with  his  ship.  Infernet  was  in  the  "  Cesar  "  in 
Rodney's  battle.  Dropping  clear  of  the  ring  of 
sharks  that  beset  the  burning  vessel,^  the  young 

1  See  "  Famous  Fighters  of  the  Fleet,  '  Rodney's  Ship  on  Rodney's 
Day/  "  pp.  163-7. 


76  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAPALGAR 

Infernet  was  taken  out  of  the  water  by  an 
English  boat,  and  so  had  lived  to  fight  on 
another  day.  That  is  one  account.  According  to 
a  second,  he  swam  off  just  as  the  ship  blew  up. 
A  Proven9al  by  birth,  he  was  a  near  relative  of 
the  famous  Marshal  Massena,  "the  spoilt  child 
of  victory,"  of  whom  in  earlier  years  he  had  seen 
a  good  deal,  and  whom  he  was  said  to  resemble  in 
appearance  and  his  rough-and-ready  ways.  Two 
other  men  that  Admiral  Villeneuve  could  rely  on 
in  an  emergency,  were  Captains  Gourrege  of  the 
"Aigle"  and  Maistral  of  the  "Neptune."  The 
former  was  a  rough-and-ready  old  Breton  mer- 
cantile skipper,  one  of  those  brought  into  the 
French  Navy  at  the  Revolution  in  place  of  emigre 
officers  of  the  old  regime,  to  command  on  the 
quarter-deck  in  the  "  National "  marine.  Maistral, 
on  the  other  hand,  like  Villeneuve,  Magon,  and 
Cosmao,  had  been  once  a  dashing  young  wearer 
of  the  Bleu  de  Roi,  and  like  them  also  had  been 
half  a  score  of  times  under  fire  before  he  was  out 
of  his  teens.  Captain  Lucas  of  the  *'Redoutable" 
was  a  painstaking  and  determined  officer  of  humble 
origin,  with  a  service  experience  that  went  back  to 
the  days  of  the  Bailli  de  Suffren.  Capable  men, 
too,  for  fighting  work  were  Hubert  of  the  "  In- 
domptable"  and  Baudoin  of  the  "Fougueux."^ 

1  A  considerable  number  of  the  French  officers  who  fought  at 
Trafalgar  are  represented  by  direct  descendants  or  collaterally  in  the 
French  Navy  of  to-day.     There  are  four  Villeneuves,  one  of  whom 


ADMIRAL   GRAVINA'S   RECORD  77 

This  is  what  is  on  record  about  those  to  whom 
was  entrusted  the  honour  of  the  Spanish  flag.  In 
the  Spanish  Navy  no  officer's  reputation  stood 
higher  than  that  of  Don  Federico  Gravina,  a 
courtly  Caballero  of  Old  Spain,  a  grandee  of  the 
First  Class,  with  the  right  to  put  his  hat  on  in 
the  Presence  Chamber  of  the  Catholic  King.  He 
was  a  man  of  forty-nine,  and  had  been  a  sailor 
since  he  was  twelve.  Gravina's  experiences  of 
war  service  went  back  to  the  days  of  the  great 
siege  of  Gibraltar,  where  he  had  commanded  one 
of  the  "  invulnerable  "  battering  ships  in  the  final 
grand  attack.  The  "San  Christoval,"  however, 
Uke  her  consorts,  proved  unable  to  stand  red-hot 
shot,  and  after  the  catastrophe  Gravina  was  pro- 
moted from  his  burned-out  vessel  to  the  great 
"Santisima  Trinidad,"  in  which  he  was  present 
at  the  fight  between  Lord  Howe's  " Grand  Fleet" 
and  the  Franco-Spanish  Armada  off  Cape  Spartel 
in  1782.  As  second-in-command  of  the  Spanish 
fleet  that  co-operated  with  Lord  Hood's  fleet  in 
occupying  Toulon  in  1793,  Gravina  had  received 
the  special  thanks  of  his  sovereign,  and  through- 
out the  war  since  then  he  had  been  in  continuous 
employment  in  various  capacities,  mostly  diplo- 
matic.     As  a  naval  leader  his  reputation  stood 

was  in  the  fleet  that  visited  Portsmouth  last  summer  and  attended 
the  Guildhall  luncheon^  on  the  way  to  which  he  paid  a  chivalrous 
salute  to  the  Nelson  monument.  Among  other  officers  there  are 
three  Dumanoirs,  two  Lucases,  one  Cosmao  Kerjulien,  one  Hubert, 
one  Infernet,  all  serving  afloat  at  the  present  time. 


78  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

very  high  indeed  in  official  circles  throughout 
France  and  Spain.  He  was  said  to  have  owed 
his  present  command  to  Napoleon's  suggestion. 

Vice-Admiral  Alava,  who  held  the  post  of 
Spanish  second-in-command,  had  had  thirty-nine 
years'  service  in  the  navy.  He  was  in  his  fifty- 
second  year.  Like  Gravina,  he  had  seen  service  at 
the  siege  of  Gibraltar,  where  he  had  command  of 
a  frigate,  and  his  fame  as  a  sea-officer  stood  among 
his  countrymen  second  only  to  that  of  Gravina 
himself.  The  Spanish  third-in-command,  Rear- 
Admiral  Don  Baltazar  Hidalgo  Cisneros,  an  officer 
of  thirty-five  years'  standing  in  the  service,  had 
commanded  the  "  San  Pablo  "  in  the  battle  off  Cape 
St.  Vincent. 

To  support  the  flag  were  some  of  Spain's  best 
captains ;  in  particular,  Churruca  of  the  "  San 
Juan  Nepomuceno,"  a  member  of  a  noble  family 
of  Guipuscoa,  and  Galiano  of  the  "  Bahama,"  "  in- 
clito  Galiano";  both  high-spirited  gentlemen  of 
the  best  Spanish  type,  and  highly  trained  officers. 
Don  Cayetano  Valdez,  of  a  family  that  had  for 
centuries  given  many  gallant  sons  to  the  Spanish 
Marine,  commanded  the  "  Neptuno."  He  entered 
the  navy  as  "  guardia  marina,"  at  the  age  of  thir- 
teen, and  had  served  afloat  almost  continuously 
ever  since.  Like  "  Va  de  Bon  Cceur  "  Cosmao  in 
the  French  Fleet,  no  officer  was  more  personally 
popular  on  the  Spanish  side  than  Valdez ;  for  one 
incident  of  his  career  ui  particular,  which  all  Spain 


VALDEZ  OF  THE   "PELAYO" 


79 


had  heard  of.  No  Spaniard  could  forget  how 
Valdez,  in  the  battle  off  Cape  St.  Vincent,  in  his 
ship,  the  "  Pelayo,"  had  gone  to  the  rescue  of  the 
great  "Santisima  Trinidad,"  when  in  extreme  peril. 
"Salvemos  al  Trinidad  6  perez- 
camos  todos ! "  were  the  words 
with  which  Valdez  addressed  his 
men  as  the  "Pelayo"  headed 
round  to  succour  the  "  Glory  of 
Spain  " ;  to  which  his  brave  fellows 
responded  with  a  thundering  shout 
of  "Viva  el  Rey!"^  Valdez  was 
a  young  man  for  a  captain — under 
thirty-five.  Alcedo  of  the  "  Mon- 
tanez  "  and  Pareja  of  the  "  Argo- 
nauta,"  the  last-named  officer,  Uke 
Valdez,  belonging  to  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  naval  families 
of  Old  Spain,^  and  the  two  flag- 
captains — Don  Antonio  Escano, 
Admiral  Gravina's  right  -  hand 
man  in  the  "Principe  de  As- 
turias,"  and  Don  Jos^  Gardoqui 
of  the  "  Santa  Ana,"  Alava's  flag- 
captain — were  also  highly  trained 
men,  of  mark  in  the  Spanish  Navy 
for  services  rendered  in  action. 

*  A  picture  of  the  exploit  was  specially  painted  for  the  King  of 
Spain.     It  is  now  in  the  naval  gallery  at  Madrid. 

2  He  was  a  descendant  of  Philip  IV's  admiral,  Don  Adrian  Pulido 
Pareja,  whose  portrait  by  Velasquez  is  one  of  the  glories  of  our 
National  Gallery. 


CAPTAIN 


SPANISH  NAVY, 
1805 


80  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

One  of  Gravina's  captains  was  an  Irishman,  born 
in  Ireland  of  Irish  parents,  Don  Enrique  (Henry) 
Macdonell,  in  command  of  the  three-decker 
"  Rayo."  Leaving  Ireland  as  a  boy  of  sixteen,  at 
the  time  of  the  European  coalition  against  Great 
Britain  during  the  American  War,  in  order  to 
take  arms  against  England,  Macdonell  had  first 
held  a  commission  in  the  Regimiento  de  Hibernia, 
then  at  the  siege  of  Gibraltar,  a  corps  originally 
raised  from  Jacobite  refugees  to  Spain  three- 
quarters  of  a  century  before.  Tiring  of  the 
barrack-square  after  the  war,  he  got  himself  trans- 
ferred to  the  Spanish  Navy,  from  which  he  had 
retired  as  a  captain  some  time  previously.  Hear- 
ing of  Gravina's  plight  for  officers.  Commodore 
Macdonell  volunteered  his  services,  and  so  he  came 
to  be  in  command  on  board  the  *'  Rayo." 

Among  the  officers  of  lower  rank  in  the  Spanish 
Trafalgar  fleet  were  to  be  found  representatives  of 
many  a  family  that,  in  the  days  when  Spain  was 
in  her  prime,  had  done  something  towards  making 
history — a  Bobadilla,  a  Castanos,  a  Francis  Xavier 
de  UUoa,  a  Medina  Sidonia,  a  Pedro  Nunez,  besides 
Calderons,  and  Sotomayers  and  Mendozas,  and  a 
Manuel  Diaz. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   NIGHT   BEFORE  THE   BATTLE 

AT  six  on  the  morning  of  the  19th  the  "Bucen- 
-^  taure "  ran  up  the  signal,  "  Make  sail  and 
proceed." 

The  weather  was  perfect,  brilliantly  fine;  but 
the  wind  was  light,  and  having  to  move  out  in 
sailing-ship  fashion,  one  vessel  at  a  time,  made  the 
process  of  getting  the  whole  fleet  clear  a  lengthy 
one.  Cadiz  harbour  was  not  an  easy  place  to  get 
out  of,  owing  to  the  cross-currents,  certain  reefs, 
and  the  set  of  the  tides.  Not  many  years  before 
it  had  taken  a  smarter  French  fleet  than  the 
present  one,  and  comprising  fewer  ships,  three 
whole  days  to  get  to  sea.  By  midday,  indeed, 
only  nine  of  Villeneuve's  ships  were  outside ;  and 
after  that  the  wind  died  away  to  almost  a  dead 
calm.  That  in  itself  was  not  an  auspicious  open- 
ing for  the  Combined  Fleet.  They  could  see 
meanwhile  the  British  look-out  frigates,  busily 
signalling  the  news  along  the  chain  of  ships  that 
stretched  away  across  the  horizon  to  the  main 
British  Fleet  out  of  sight.     The  ships  that  got  out 

G  81 


82  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

stood  along  the  coast  to  northward  for  a  short 
distance,  and  then  dropped  anchor  to  wait  for  the 
rest. 

All  could  see  what  the  British  frigates  were 
doing ;  and  all  were  well  aware  of  what  it  meant. 

Within  two  hours  of  the  opening  move  by  the 
Combined  Fleet  on  Saturday  morning,  it  was 
known  in  Nelson's  fleet,  fifty  miles  away.  At  six 
that  morning  the  ships  at  Cadiz  were  first  observed 
hoisting  topsails,  and  the  British  look-out  ships 
closed  in  nearer.  Then  they  were  seen  unmooring 
and  beginning  to  drift  down  towards  the  open  sea/ 
Blackwood,  the  captain  of  the  "Euryalus,"  in 
command  of  the  frigates,  waited  to  assure  himself 
that  the  move  was  general.  That  made  clear,  the 
signal -flags,  which  had  been  lying  on  deck,  bent 
to  the  halyards,  went  swiftly  up.  They  made 
"No.  390"  in  the  signal-book:  meaning — "The 
enemy's  ships  are  coming  out  of  port."  The 
message  was  passed  to  the  main  fleet  along  the 
line  of  "  repeating  "  ships  which  for  the  past  three 
weeks  had  been  cruising  to  windward,  waiting  for 
that  moment.  One  beyond  the  other  they  stretched 
away  across  the  horizon  to  westward,  each  ship 

^  "  The  morning  of  the  19th  of  October,"  says  Midshipman  Hercules 
Robinson  of  the  *'  Euryalus,"  ''saw  us  so  close  to  Cadiz  as  to  see  the 
ripple  of  the  beach  and  catch  the  morning  fragrance  which  came  out 
of  the  land,  and  then  as  the  sun  rose  over  the  Trocadero  with  what  joy 
we  saw  the  fleet  inside  let  fall  and  hoist  their  topsails  and  one  after 
another  slowly  emerge  from  the  harbour  mouth.'' 


KEEPING   NELSON   IN   TOUCH  83 

keeping  just  within  signalling  distance — from  mast- 
head to  masthead — of  the  next  to  her ;  all  together 
linking  Blackwood  to  Nelson  as  by  a  chain  or  line 
of  telegraph  posts.  The  message  was  sent  off  at 
twenty  minutes  past  seven :  it  was  received  on 
board  the  "Victory"  before  half-past  nine. 

At  eleven  the  "  Euryalus  "  signalled  to  the  fleet: 
"  Nineteen  under  sail.  All  the  rest  have  topyards 
hoisted  except  Spanish  rear-admiral  and  one  line- 
of-battle  ship."  Following  on  that  the  message  was 
sent :  *'  Little  wind  in  harbour,  two  of  the  enemy 
are  at  anchor."  At  noon  Blackwood  signalled: 
"  Notwithstanding  httle  wind,  Enemy  persevere  to 
get  outward,  the  rest  except  one  line  ready  yards 
hoisted."  Just  before  two  Blackwood  signalled 
again,  "Enemy  persevering  to  work  outward. 
Seven  of  line  already  without  and  two  frigates." 

Captain  Blackwood  himself,  during  the  forenoon, 
sat  down  in  his  cabin  and  wrote  a  letter  to  his  wife, 
or,  rather,  began  it,  for  he  had  not  time  then  to 
pen  more  than  the  opening  sentences 

"  What  think  you,  my  own  dearest  love  ?  At 
this  moment  the  enemy  are  coming  out  and  as  if 
determined  to  have  a  fair  fight;  all  night  they 
have  been  making  signals,  and  morning  showed 
them  to  be  getting  under  sail.  They  have  34  sail 
of  the  Line,  and  five  frigates.  Lord  Nelson  has 
but  27  sail  of  the  Line  with  him,  the  rest  are 
at  Gibraltar  getting  water.  Not  that  he  has  not 
enough  to  bring  them  to  close  action,  but  I  want 


84  THE  ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

him  to  have  so  many  as  to  make  this  the  most 
decisive  battle  that  was  ever  fought,  and  which 
may  bring  us  lasting  peace,  and  all  its  blessings. 
Within  two  hours,  though  our  fleet  was  sixteen 
leagues  off,  I  have  let  Lord  Nelson  know  of  their 
coming  out,  and  have  been  enabled  to  send  a 
vessel  to  Gibraltar,  which  will  bring  Admiral 
Louis  and  the  ships  there.  At  this  moment 
(happy  sight ! )  we  are  within  four  miles  of  the 
enemy,  and  talking  to  Lord  Nelson  by  means  of 
Sir  H.  Popham's  signals,  though  so  distant,  but 
reached  along  by  the  rest  of  the  frigates  of  the 
squadron.  You  see,  dearest,  I  have  time  to  write  to 
you  and  to  assure  you  that  to  the  latest  moment  of 
my  breath,  I  shall  be  as  much  attached  to  you  as 
man  can  be.  It  is  odd  how  I  have  been  dreaming 
all  night  of  carrying  home  despatches.  God  send 
me  such  good  luck !  The  day  is  fine,  and  the  sight 
magnificently  beautiful.  I  expect  before  this  hour 
to-morrow  to  carry  General  Decres  on  board  the 
Victory  in  my  barge,  which  I  have  just  painted 
nicely  for  him."^ 

Every  effort  was  made  during  Saturday  evening 
and  the  first  part  of  the  night  to  tow  or  warp  as 

*  According  to  the  London  newspapers,  brought  by  one  of  the  last- 
joined  ships,  the  Minister  of  Marine  himself,  who  was  well  known  to  be 
a  hard  fighting  officer,  had  superseded  Admiral  Villeneuve.  So,  too, 
apparently.  Nelson  thought.  ''  I  would  give  a  good  deal,"  he  had  said, 
a  day  or  two  before,  ''for  a  copy  of  the  French  Admiral's  orders. 
Report  says  it  is  Decres,  as  he  fought  the  '  Guillaume  Tell '  well." 


CAITAIN    r.I.ACKWOOD   OK   THF.    "EUKYAl.US 


NELSON 

[From  the  last  portrait  of  him  ever  made— at  Merton,  September  5th,  1805, 
nine  days  before  he  left  England] 

To  face  p.  84 


HALF   CADIZ   ON    ITS    KNERS  85 

many  as  possible  of  the  ships  in  Cadiz  harbour 
down  towards  the  sea,  so  as  to  catch  the  early 
morning  breeze  off  the  land  when  it  came.  In  that 
they  were  successful.  Towards  morning  on  the 
20th  —  Sunday  —  the  breeze  freshened,  coming 
briskly  from  the  south-east.  Taking  advantage 
of  it,  Admiral  Villeneuve  was  able  to  work  his 
entire  fleet  out,  with  the  result  that  all  were  at  sea 
and  under  sail  by  noon. 

Crowds  of  people  watched  the  departure  ;  lining 
the  walls  of  Cadiz  at  every  point  whence  a  view  of 
the  harbour  might  be  obtained.  Every  church  in 
the  city  was  thronged  all  day  with  anxious  wor- 
shippers, fathers  and  mothers  and  sisters,  most  of 
them  in  teafs.  At  the  Iglesia  del  Carmen,  in 
particular,  the  old  mariners'  church  of  Cadiz,  the 
crowds  were  so  great  that  the  people  had  to  be 
admitted  in  relays.  Archbishop  Utrera  himself, 
"Dignisimo  Obispo  de  Cadiz  y  Alege^iras"  pleaded 
with  Heaven  all  day  for  the  safety  of  their  dear 
ones  on  board  ship,  on  his  knees  before  the  High 
Altar  of  the  Oratorio  de  San  Felipe  Neri. 

Fortune  at  the  outset  seemed  to  favour  the 
Combined  Fleet.  Hardly  had  they  got  clear 
of  the  bay  when  the  wind  veered  to  the  south- 
west, blowing  right  into  the  harbour,  and  the 
weather  came  on  thick  and  squally,  with  drizzling 
rain.  Admiral  Villeneuve,  being  now  fairly  at  sea, 
signalled  for  the  fleet  to  tack  to  the  southward 
and  form  in  five  columns,  line  ahead.     Towards 


86  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

four  in  the  afternoon  the  weather  cleared  up  and 
the  wind  veered  again  to  the  north-west.  It  was, 
however,  very  hght,  and  the  progress  of  the  fleet 
was  in  consequence  very  slow.  The  Combined 
Fleet  was  now  in  the  two  separate  divisions 
designated  in  Villeneuve's  "  Line  of  Battle."  The 
larger  division,  consisting  of  twenty-one  sail  of 
the  line,  formed  the  Corps  de  bataille  under  Ad- 
miral Villeneuve's  direct  supervision.  It  was  sub- 
divided into  three  squadrons  of  seven  ships  each, 
of  which  the  centre  was  led  by  Villeneuve  himself, 
the  van  by  Vice- Admiral  Alava,  and  the  rear  by 
Rear- Admiral  Dumanoir.  The  second  division, 
the  Squadron  of  Observation,  or  Corps  de  reserve^ 
was  in  two  squadrons  of  six  ships  each ;  the  first 
under  the  orders  of  Admiral  Gravina,  the  second 
under  Rear- Admiral  Magon. 

As  the  Combined  Fleet  came  out  during  Sun- 
day forenoon,  its  composition  and  numbers  were 
reported  to  Nelson  by  the  watching  frigates.  Ville- 
neuve, owing  to  circumstances,  was  not  so  well 
served. 

Nothing  was  seen  of  the  main  British  Fleet; 
nothing  whatever,  beyond  two  of  those  ever- 
present  frigates  on  the  horizon,  the  consorts  of 
the  "  Euryalus  " —  Nelson's  watch  -  dogs.  They 
were  chased,  but  they  merely  moved  off  else- 
where and  maintained  their  watch  as  before. 
Admiral  Villeneuve  only  got  his  first  reliable 
news  of  the  strength  of  the  British  Fleet  about 


VILLENEUVE   SENDS   HIS   LAST   DESPATCH      87 

eight  o'clock  on  Sunday  evening,  when  the 
"Argus,"  a  brig,  came  alongside  the  "Bucen- 
taure"  with  a  message  from  Gravina  that  the 
"Achille"  had  just  reported  eighteen  sail  of  the 
line  away  to  the  south -south -west.  That  was 
just  as  Villeneuve  was  sitting  down  in  the  cabin 
of  the  "  Bucentaure "  to  finish  a  despatch  to  the 
Minister  of  Marine  in  Paris  begun  in  the  fore- 
noon. "They  have  signalled  to  me,"  he  wrote, 
"  that  eighteen  of  the  enemy  are  in  sight.  ...  In 
leaving  port  I  have  only  consulted  my  anxious 
desire  to  conform  to  the  wishes  of  His  Majesty, 
and  to  do  everything  in  my  power  to  remove  that 
feeling  of  dissatisfaction  with  which  he  has  re- 
garded the  events  of  my  previous  cruise."  ["Je 
n'ai  consults  dans  ce  depart,  que  le  d^sir  ardent 
de  me  conformer  aux  intentions  de  Sa  Majeste 
et  de  faire  tons  mes  efforts  pour  detruire  les 
m^contentments  dont  elle  a  ^te  penetree  des  ev^ne- 
ments  de  la  derni^re  campagne."]  He  was  just 
ending  his  despatch  and  other  letters,  to  be  sent 
into  Cadiz  that  night,  when,  between  eight  and 
nine  o'clock,  one  of  his  frigates,  the  "Themis," 
brought  in  the  report  that,  as  far  as  could  be 
made  out,  the  enemy  numbered  twenty  sail. 

With  nightfall,  as  it  would  seem,  a  general  feel- 
ing of  unrest  and  anxiety,  almost,  indeed,  of 
nervousness,  set  in  throughout  the  Combined 
Fleet.  That  they  were  being  kept  closely  under 
observation,  in  spite  of  the  darkness,  all  were  but 


88  THE   EKEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

too  well  aware.  For  the  past  two  hours,  ever 
since  it  became  dark,  they  had  both  heard  and 
seen  signals,  "we  cannot  understand,"  as  Ville- 
neuve  put  it.  They  were  the  signals  of  the  British 
look-out  ships.  "Lights,"  says  a  French  officer, 
"were  continuously  seen  at  various  points  of  the 
horizon.  They  were  the  signals  of  the  English 
Fleet  and  the  look-out  ships  that  felt  the  way  for 
them.  The  reports  of  cannon,  repeated  from  time 
to  time,  and  blue  lights  casting  a  bright  and  sud- 
den glare  in  the  midst  of  profound  darkness,  were 
soon  added  to  the  earlier  signals,  and  convinced 
Admiral  Villeneuve  that  he  would  vainly  attempt 
to  conceal  his  course  from  his  active  foes." 

Then  came  a  sudden  alarm.  A  little  after  nine 
o'clock  Admiral  Gravina,  who,  with  the  "Squadron 
of  Observation,"  was  ahead  of  the  battle-squadron, 
suddenly  flashed  a  signal  that  the  enemy  were  "less 
than  two  miles  off."  It  seemed  impossible.  Surely 
there  was  an  error  in  signalling?  Admiral  Ville- 
neuve could  hardly  credit  it ;  but  at  the  same  time. 
Nelson's  night  attack  at  the  Nile,  his  own  "souvenir 
d'Aboukir,"  came  to  mind.  To  meet  the  emergency 
he  made  the  general  signal  for  the  whole  fleet  to 
form  in  line  of  battle  at  once,  without  regard  to 
the  stations  of  individual  ships.  The  two  wind- 
ward columns  of  the  battle  squadron  were  to  drop 
to  leeward  and  form  on  the  third  column.  At  the 
same  time  the  Squadron  of  Observation  would  form 
up  ahead  of  the  line.     A  few  seconds  later  the 


'^ CLEAR   FOR   ACTION!" 


89 


signal  lamps  of  the  "Bucentaure"  again  flashed 
out.  It  was  the  order,  "General  Quarters!"  or, 
"  Clear  for  action  ! " — "  Branle-bas-de-combat ! "  as 
the  French  Navy  called  it — replied  to  on  board 
each  ship  by  the  drums  striking  up  the  sharp  rantan 


OK   BOARD  THE    "  REDOUTABLE  :    FRENCH    36-POUNDER 
ON  THE  LOWER   DECK 

of  the  Generale,  with  its  opening  ruffle,  ''Prend 
ton  sac  ! — Prend  ton  sac  ! — Prend  ton  sac  /  "  as  the 
French  put  words  to  the  tune. 

Forming  line  in  the  dark,  however,  was  not  an 
easy  task,  and  it  was  not  effected  satisfactorily. 
As  one  French  captain  said,  there  was  a  good  deal 
too  much  noise  and  hailing,  while  the  ships 
groped  about  here  and  there,  trying  to  keep  clear 
of  one  another  and  find  a  berth  for  themselves. 


90  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

An   admirable   personal  narrative  of  Sunday's 
doings,  with   some  incidents  that  passed  in   the 
Combined  Fleet  on  the  night  before  the  battle, 
was  sent  to  Admiral  Decres  at  the  Ministry  of 
Marine  by  one  of  the  French  captains,  Lucas  of 
the  " Redoutable."     "On  the   28th   Vendemiaire 
An  XIV  (20th  October,  1805)'  the  Combmed  Fleet 
got  under  sail  to  leave  Cadiz  Bay.     The  wind  was 
southerly;  light  at  first,  afterwards  fresh.    The  fleet 
comprised  thirty-three  sail  of  the  Line,  of  which 
eighteen  were  French,  fifteen  Spanish ;  with  five 
frigates  and  two  brigs,  French.     We  were  hardly 
outside  when  the  wind  shifted  to  the  south-west  and 
came  on  to  blow  strong.    The  admiral  then  ordered 
the  fleet  to  reef  sail,   which   was  done,  though 
some  of  the  Spanish  ships  were  so  slow  over  it  that 
they  fell  considerably  to  leeward.     Some  time  was 
lost  by  that,  but  at  length  all  worked  back  again, 
and  then  the  fleet  stood  on,  in  no  regular  for- 
mation,   heading   to    the    west-north-west.     The 
Redoutable  was  next  astern  to  the  Bucentaure, 
and  a  short  distance  off,  when,  towards  noon,  the 
flagship  suddenly  signalled  *  Man  overboard  I '     I 
brought  to  at  once,  lowered  a  boat,  picked  the  man 
up,  and  regained  my  station. 

"  An  hour  after  midday  the  wind  shifted  to  the 

1  The  last  day  of  December,  1806  (10th  Nivose  An  XIV),  saw  the 
last  of  the  Revolution  Calendar,  invented  by  Fabre  d'Eglantine  and 
Gilbert  Romme.  By  order  of  Napoleon  the  Gregorian  Calendar  was 
restored  on  and  after  the  1st  of  January,  1806. 


HOW  CAPTAIN   LUCAS  SPENT  THE  NIGHT      91 

west,  and  the  fleet  went  about  all  together.  As 
soon  as  that  was  done,  the  Bucentaure  signalled 
for  the  battle-squadron  to  form  in  three  columns 
on  the  starboard  tack,  flagships  in  the  centre  of 
their  divisions.  In  this  order  of  sailing  the 
Redoutable,  as  leader  {chef  de  file)  of  the  first 
division,  should  have  been  at  the  head  of  her 
column,  and  I  manoeuvred  the  ship  to  take  that 
post.^  All  the  afternoon,  however,  was  spent 
without  the  fleet  being  able  to  get  into  the  forma- 
tion designated,  although  the  admiral  kept  signal- 
ling repeatedly  to  ships  to  take  station. 

"Towards  seven  in  the  evening  the  wind  went 
down  a  little ;  but  the  sea  was  still  rough,  with  a 
swell  setting  in  from  the  south-west.  The  fleet 
was  now  steering  to  the  south-south-west.  I 
signalled  at  this  time  to  the  admiral  that  I  could 
make  out  a  fleet  or  squadron  of  the  enemy  to 
windward.  They  did  not,  to  me,  seem  very  far 
off.  The  ships  of  this  squadron,  as  the  evening 
went  on,  made  a  great  many  signals,  showing  for 
their  purpose  quite  a  remarkable  display  of  coloured 
fires. 

"  About  nine  o'clock  at  night  the  flagship  made 

*  According  to  the  squadronal  division  of  the  French  Fleet,  the 
'^  Redoutable "  belonged  to  Admiral  Villeneuve's  own  group,  which 
comprised  the  *'  Bucentaure,"  "  Neptune,"  "  Redoutable,"  ^'  Indomp- 
table,"  and  "  Heros."  Dumanoir's  group  comprised  the  "  Formidable," 
"Scipion,"  "Intrepide,"  "Duguay  Trouin,"  and  ''Mont  Blanc." 
Magon's  group  was  formed  of  the  "  Alge9iras,"  "  Achille,"  "  Argo- 
nauta,''  "  Aigle,"  and  "  Fougueux,'^  the  fastest  of  the  French  ships ; 
with  the  "Pluton,"  "Swiftsure,"  and  "Berwick"  added. 


92  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

the  general  signal  to  the  fleet  to  form  in  the  order 
of  battle  at  once  {promptement),  without  regard  to 
the  stations  of  individual  ships.  To  carry  out  this 
evolution  those  ships  most  to  leeward  ought  to 
have  shown  a  light  at  each  masthead,  so  as  to 
mark  their  positions.  Whether  this  was  done  I  do 
not  know:  at  any  rate  1  was  unable  to  see  such 
lights.  At  that  moment,  indeed,  we  were  all 
widely  scattered.  The  ships  of  the  battle  squadron 
and  those  of  the  squadron  of  observation  were  all 
mixed  up.  Another  cause  of  confusion  was  this. 
Nearly  all  the  ships  had  answered  the  admiral's 
signals  with  flares,  which  made  it  impossible  to  tell 
which  was  the  flagship.  All  I  could  do  was  to 
follow  the  motions  of  other  ships  near  me  which 
were  closing  on  some  to  leeward. 

"Towards  eleven  I  discovered  myself  close  to 
Admiral  Gravina,  who,  with  four  or  five  ships,  was 
beginning  to  form  his  own  line  of  battle.  I  was 
challenged  and  our  name  demanded,  whereupon 
the  Spanish  admiral  ordered  me  to  take  post  in  his 
line.  I  asked  leave  to  lead  it  and  he  assented, 
whereupon  I  stood  into  station.  The  wind  was 
in  direction  and  force  as  before,  and  we  were  all 
still  on  the  starboard  tack. 

"  The  whole  fleet  was  at  this  time  cleared  for 
action,  in  accordance  with  orders  signalled  from 
the  Bucentaure  earher  in  the  night.  In  the 
Redoutable  we  had,  however,  cleared  for  action 
immediately  after  leaving   Cadiz,  and  everything 


A  REPORT  FROM   GRAVINA'S  FLAGSHIP         93 

had  been  kept  since  in  readiness  to  go  to  quarters 
instantly.  With  the  certainty  of  a  battle  next 
day,  I  retained  but  few  men  on  deck  during  the 
night.  I  sent  the  greater  number  of  the  officers 
and  crew  to  he  down,  so  that  they  might  be  as 
fresh  as  possible  for  the  approaching  fight." 

A  report  from  Admiral  Gravina's  flagship  also 
describes  the  doings  of  Sunday  and  Sunday  night. 
"  On  the  morning  of  the  19th  some  of  the  French 
and  Spanish  set  sail  in  obedience  to  the  signal 
made  by  Admiral  Villeneuve.  In  consequence, 
however,  of  the  wind  shifting  to  the  S.E.,  we 
could  not  all  succeed  in  doing  so  until  the  20th, 
when  the  wind  got  round  again  to  the  E.S.E. 
Scarcely  was  the  Combined  Fleet  clear  of  the 
harbour  mouth,  when  the  wind  came  to  S.S.E., 
blowing  so  strongly,  and  with  such  a  threaten- 
ing appearance,  that  one  of  the  first  signals 
made  by  the  Bucentaur,  the  flagship  of  Admiral 
Villeneuve,  was  to  set  double-reefed  topsails. 
This  change  of  wind  also  necessarily  caused 
a  considerable  dispersal  of  the  fleet,  until  two 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Then,  fortunately, 
the  wind  veered  to  the  S.E.,  and  the  horizon  be- 
coming clear  and  unobscured,  signal  was  made  to 
form  five  columns,  and  afterwards  for  all  to  close. 
An  advanced  frigate  signalled  eighteen  sail  of  the 
enemy  in  sight,  in  consequence  of  which  news 
we  cleared  for  Action,  and  sailed  in  fighting  order. 
At  three  we  all  tacked  and  stood  for  the  Straits, 


94  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

still  preserving  the  same  disposition  of  five 
Columns  in  w^hich  we  had  been  before  the  last 
evolution.  After  having  so  done,  we  descried 
four  of  the  Enemy's  Frigates,  to  which,  by  order  of 
Admiral  Villeneuve,  we  gave  chase.  Signal  was 
made,  at  the  same  time,  from  our  ship,  for  the 
Achille,  Alge^iras,  and  San  Juan,  attached  to 
the  'Squadron  of  Observation,'  to  reinforce  the 
ships  sent  in  chase.  They  had  orders  to  rejoin  the 
main  body  of  the  Fleet  before  nightfall.  At  half- 
past  six  o'clock  a  French  ship  informed  us  that 
they  had  made  out  eighteen  of  the  enemy,  all  in 
line  of  battle ;  and  shortly  afterwards  we  ourselves 
began  to  observe,  at  no  great  distance,  gleams  of 
light.  They  could  only  be  from  the  enemy's 
frigates,  which  were  stationed  midway  between 
the  two  fleets.  At  nine  o'clock  the  English 
squadron  made  signals  by  firing  guns,  and,  from 
the  interval  which  elapsed  between  the  flash  and 
report,  they  must  have  been  about  two  miles  from 
us.  We  informed  the  French  Admiral  by  signal- 
lanterns  that  it  was  expedient  to  lose  no  time  in 
forming  line  of  battle  on  the  leeward  ships,  on 
which  an  order  to  that  effect  was  immediately 
given  by  the  Commander-in-Chief.  In  this  situa- 
tion we  beheld  the  dawn  of  the  21st,  with  the 
Enemy  in  sight,  consisting  of  twenty-eight  Ships — 
eight  of  which  were  three-deckers — all  to  wind- 
ward of  us,  and  in  Line  of  Battle  on  the  opposite 
tack." 


WHAT   THE   BRITISH    FRIGATES   SAW  95 

On  the  British  side,  all  through  that  Sunday 
night,  Blackwood  in  the  "  Euryalus,"  with  Nelson's 
frigate  squadron  and  two  or  three  men-of-war 
from  the  main  fleet,  kept  watch  on  the  enemy 
hour  after  hour ;  sailing  at  about  half-gunshot  dis- 
tance from  them  most  of  the  time,  and  to  wind- 
ward. The  task  was  one  that  the  enemy's  lights, 
showing  "  like  a  well  lit  up  street "  six  miles  long, 
rendered  not  difficult ;  although  at  times  some  of 
the  British  ships  got  rather  close.  This  is  from  a 
British  officer  in  one  of  the  watching  ships.  "  Our 
situation  on  board  the  'Defence'  during  the 
whole  night  after  the  enemy  had  come  without 
their  harbour,  was  both  critical  and  interesting. 
The  absence  of  the  moon,  and  the  cloudy  state  of 
the  weather,  rendered  it  exceedingly  dark,  so  that 
we  came  very  near  the  Combined  Fleet  without 
their  being  able  to  discern  us.  While  we  con- 
cealed every  light,  they  continued  to  exhibit  such 
profusions  of  theirs,  and  to  make  night  signals  in 
such  abundance,  that  we  seemed  at  times  in  the 
jaws  of  a  mighty  host  ready  to  swallow  us  up. 
We,  however,  felt  no  alarm,  being  confident  that 
we  could  fight  our  way  or  fly,  as  occasion  required. 
The  former  was  certainly  more  congenial  to  all  our 
feelings:  yet,  in  the  face  of  the  enemy's  whole  fleet, 
we  did  not  regret  that  our  ship  was  a  fast  sailer." 

On  board  the  "  Euryalus  "^  they  had  the  con- 

*  There  could  hardly  perhaps  have  been  an  apter  name  for  Black- 
wood's dashing  frigate  on  the  present  occasion  than  that  she  bore^ 


96  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

sciousness  of  duty  well  done.  They  had  done 
all  that  was  possible ;  they  could  leave  the  rest  to 
the  course  of  events.  "  For  two  days,"  said  Mid- 
shipman Hercules  Robinson,  of  the  "Euryalus," 
"there  was  not  a  movement  that  we  did  not 
communicate,  till  I  thought  that  Blackwood  who 
gave  the  orders,  and  Bruce  our  signal  mid,  and 
Soper  our  signalman,  who  executed  them,  must 
have  died  of  it ;  and  when  we  had  brought  the 
two  fleets  fairly  together,  we  took  our  place 
between  the  two  lines  of  lights,  as  a  cab  might 
in  Regent  Street,  the  watch  was  called,  and 
Blackwood  turned  in  quietly  to  wait  for  the 
morning." 

commemorating  as  it  did  the  gallant  ''  Dardan  Boy  "  of  the  days  of 
old  King  Priam  and  the  ten  years'  war  of  Troy  : — 

*'  To  watch  the  movements  of  the  Daunian  host. 
With  him  ''  Euryalus ''  sustains  the  post : 
No  lovelier  mien  adornM  the  ranks  of  Troy, 
And  beardless  bloom  yet  graced  the  gallant  boy  ; 
Though  few  the  seasons  of  his  youthful  life. 
As  yet  a  novice  in  the  martial  strife, 
'Twas  his,  with  beauty,  valour's  gifts  to  share, 
A  soul  heroic  as  his  form  was  fair." 

The  parallel  may  be  pressed  yet  closer  home.  No  smarter  or  more 
handsome  British  frigate,  perhaps,  ever  sailed  the  seas  than  Captain 
Blackwood's  '^  flyer,"  the  ''  Euryalus,'^  now,  too,  with  her  first  fight 
in  front  of  her ;  nor  was  it  long  since  that  bright  June  Monday 
morning  when  the  pride  of  Buckler's  Hard  slid  down  the  ways  to  the 
sound  of  cheering  and  merry  music  into  the  placid  waters  of  the 
Beaulieu  River,  carrying  with  her  the  best  workmanship  that  old 
Henry  Adams'  Hampshire  "maties"  could  put  into  the  beautiful 
craft. 


CHAPTER  VI 
NELSON   IN   SIGHT— MONDAY  MORNING 

ON  the  side  of  the  Combined  Fleet,  the  morning 
opened  with  the  warning  signal  from  the 
frigate  "Hermione"  at  half- past  six:  "The 
enemy  in  sight  to  windward."  Admiral  Villeneuve 
replied  by  ordering  the  frigates  to  reconnoitre  and 
report  the  enemy's  numbers. 

At  seven  o'clock  the  French  admiral  repeated 
his  signals  of  the  previous  night:  to  form  line 
of  battle  on  the  starboard  tack,  and  "  Branle-bas- 
de-combat ! " — "  Clear  for  action  I "  On  that,  we 
are  told,  the  drums  again  struck  up  the  rappel 
and  beat  the  Generale  throughout  the  fleet ;  the 
captains  on  board  most  of  the  ships,  when  all  had 
been  reported  clear,  going  round  the  decks  and 
through  the  batteries,  each  attended  by  his  first 
lieutenant  and  suite,  and  preceded  by  the  drums  and 
fifes,  to  be  enthusiastically  greeted  with  shouts  and 
cheers  of  "  Vive  I'Empereur ! "  "  Vive  I'Armde ! " 
"Vive  le  Commandant!"  The  sight  of  the 
enemy,  indeed,  it  is  related,  had  a  marvellous 
effect  on  the  spirits  of  everybody  throughout  the 

H  97 


98  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

Combined  Fleet.  All  the  dull  depression  that 
had  hung  like  a  nightmare  so  heavily  over  almost 
everybody  since  the  battle  with  Admiral  Calder, 
cleared  off  and  vanished.  A  marked  exaltation 
of  spirits  took  its  place,  with  universal  activity 
and  eagerness  to  come  to  close  quarters  with  the 
enemy. 

They  were,  we  know,  equally  jubilant  in  the 
British  Fleet.  One  officer  writes  how  "  the  joyful 
acclamations  of  the  watch  on  deck  .  .  .  announced 
that  we  were  near  the  enemy,  who  were  in  line 
under  easy  sail  a  few  miles  to  leeward."  "  As  the 
day  dawned,"  says  another,  "  the  horizon  appeared 
covered  with  ships.  The  whole  force  of  the  enemy 
was  discovered  standing  to  the  southward,  distant 
about  nine  miles,  between  us  and  the  coast  near 
Trafalgar.  I  was  awakened  by  the  cheers  of  the 
crew  and  by  their  rushing  up  the  hatchways  to  get 
a  glimpse  of  the  hostile  fleet.  The  delight  mani- 
fested exceeded  anything  I  ever  witnessed ;  sur- 
passing even  those  gratulations  when  our  native 
cliffs  are  descried  after  a  long  period  of  distant 
service." 

Between  ten  minutes  and  a  quarter  past  seven 
the  "  Hermione  "  made  her  second  signal :  "  The 
enemy  number  twenty-seven  sail  of  the  line." 

That  was  followed,  at  twenty  minutes  past  seven, 
by  an  order  from  Admiral  Villeneuve  for  the  fleet 


UNABLE   TO    RE-FORM    LINE  99 

to  close  up  to  a  cable's  interval  between  ships. 
The  Squadron  of  Observation  were  making  every 
effort  to  get  in  station.  The  leading  ship  of  all 
was  now  Admiral  Gravina's  flagship,  the  "Principe 
de  Asturias." 

Then,  once  more.  Admiral  Villeneuve  changed 
his  plans.  At  eight  o'clock  he  ran  up  a  signal  for 
the  whole  fleet  to  go  about,  ship  by  ship,  each 
wearing  in  her  station.  This  would  bring  them 
in  line  on  the  port  tack.  In  the  very  light  breeze 
it  was  plainly  impossible  to  reach  the  Straits  of 
Gibraltar  without  a  battle;  and,  as  a  matter  of 
prudence,  whichever  way  things  might  go,  with 
stormy  weather  also  approaching,  Villeneuve  con- 
sidered it  advisable  to  have  Cadiz  harbour  under 
the  lee  for  ships  crippled  in  action  to  find  a  ready 
shelter. 

Reversing  the  order  of  the  fleet,  however,  proved 
hard  work.  What  with  the  light  wind  and  strong 
ground  swell,  the  unskilfulness  of  some  of  the  officers 
and  want  of  sea-training  among  the  men,  it  took  over 
two  hours  before  anything  in  the  nature  of  a  line 
could  be  re-formed.  It  was  long  past  ten  o'clock, 
indeed,  before  an  order  of  battle  had  been  arrived 
at,  and  then  the  new  line  was  very  irregular.  Here 
there  were  clumps  of  ships  crowded  together  two 
or  three  deep,  and  more  or  less  abreast  of  one 
another ;  there,  wide  gaps  with  one  or  two  ships 
straggling  across.  The  whole  array  sagged  away 
to  leeward  in  the  centre,  in  a  deep  curve  or 
crescent  formation. 


100  THE   ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

A  number  of  ships  were  out  of  station ;  either 
ahead  or  abreast  of  the  consorts  they  should 
have  been  sailing  close  astern  of.  Between  the 
"Neptuno,"  which  now  led  the  van,  and  the 
"  H^ros,"  there  were  nine  ships  crowded  together ; 
although  five  would,  with  ordinary  intervals,  have 
been  quite  sufficient  to  fill  the  space.  The 
"H^ros,"  "Santisima  Trinidad,"  and  "Bucen- 
taure,"  which  followed,  were  in  their  proper  places 
and  kept  good  station.  The  two  next  ships  in 
order,  the  "Neptune"  (French)  and  "San  Leandro," 
were  out  of  their  places  and  to  leeward.  Then 
came  the  "  Redoutable,"  which  at  the  last  pushed 
up  on  her  own  account  to  "  second  "  the  "  Bucen- 
taure."  Again  there  was  a  gap  ;  the  "  San  Justo  " 
and  "  Indomptable  "  were  out  of  their  places  and 
to  leeward.  From  the  "Santa  Ana"  to  the 
"Argonauta,"  the  next  four  kept  a  good  line. 
Then  again,  the  "Montanez"  and  the  "Argo- 
nauta "  were  out  of  station  and  to  leeward.  The 
five  ships  astern  of  all,  if  somewhat  to  leeward  of 
their  proper  places,  kept  a  fair  line;  except  the 
"  Achille,"  which  had  got  crowded  quite  out  and 
sailed  nearly  abreast  of  the  "San  Ildefonso." 
Admiral  Gravina,  in  his  flagship  the  "  Principe  de 
Asturias,"  was  in  rear  of  all. 

Now  it  was  that  a  serious  false  move  on  the 
enemy's  side  was  made.  "The  squadron  of 
Gravina,   which,   as    a    squadron   of  observation, 


GRAVINA'S   FALSE   MOVE  101 

ought  to  have  kept  its  station  to  the  windward  of 
the  line,  where  it  would  have  covered  the  centre. 
Instead  it  moved  to  the  rear  to  prolong  the  line, 
without  having  been  signalled  to  do  so."^  Ap- 
parently Gravina  had  independent  authority  in 
some  degree,  as  he  acted  on  his  own  initiative. 
Also,  he  paid  no  heed,  later  in  the  morning, 
to  a  signal  from  Admiral  Villeneuve  desiring 
him  to  get  into  his  allotted  station.  Says  Flag- 
Captain  Prigny  in  his  official  report,  "At  11.30, 
the  breeze  being  light,  a  signal  was  made  to 
the  Squadron  of  Observation  (Gravina),  which 
was  then  in  the  rear,  and  was  bearing  away  to 
take  station  in  the  wake  of  the  fleet,  to  keep 
its  luff,  in  order  to  be  able  to  proceed  to  re- 
inforce the  centre  of  the  line  against  the  attack 
of  the  enemy  who  was  bearing  down  on  it  in  two 
columns." 

Gravina's  move  upset  the  Commander-in-Chief's 
plan  of  action,  in  which  the  presence  of  a  compact 
and  powerful  force  to  windward  of  the  general 
line  at  the  outset,  had  been  an  essential  feature. 
To  that  end  some  of  the  smartest  ships  in  the 
Combined  Fleet  had  been  placed  under  Gravina's 
orders.  It  deprived  Villeneuve  of  the  means  he 
had  provided  for  making  a  counter  move  which 
might  have,  at  least,  made  success  more  costly  to 
the  victors. 

1  Report  of  the  Court  of  Inquiry  on  Admiral  Dumanoir. 


102 


THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 


The  Mgates  were  to  leeward,  distributed  along 
the  hne  to  repeat  signals :  the  "  Hortense,"  abreast 
of  the  " Bucentaure " ;  the  "Themis,"  abreast  of 
Gravina ;  the  "  Rhin,"  abreast  of  the  "  Santa 
Ana";  and  the  "Comeille"  and  "Hermione," 
abreast  respectively  of  Rear- Admirals  Dumanoir 
and  Magon. 

This,  from  all  accounts,  was  the  order  that  the 
Combined  Fleet  had  assumed,  and  in  which  it 
found  itself  when  firing  began.  Little  was  left 
now,  as  will  be  seen,  of  the  original  "Line  of 
Battle  "  that  Admiral  Villeneuve  elaborated  before 
he  quitted  Cadiz. 


Ships. 

Nationality. 

Guns. 

1.  Neptuno 

.     Spanish 

80 

2.  Scipion 

French 

74 

3.  Intr^pide     . 

i> 

74 

4.  Formidable 

„           .             .             . 

80 

5.  Rayo    . 

Spanish 

100 

6.  Duguay-Trouin 

French 

74 

7.  Mont  Blanc 

„        .         .         . 

74 

8.  San  Francisco  dc 

Asis 

'1  Spanish 

74 

9.  San  Agustino 

»       . 

74 

10.  Heros 

French 

74 

11.  Santisima     . 
Trinidad 

1  Spanish 

180 

12.  Bucentaure 

French 

80 

IS.  Neptune 

ff       .         .         . 

80 

14.  Redoutable 

if 

74 

15.  San  Leandro 

Spanish 

64 

16.  San  Justo    . 

,f       ,         ,         , 

74 

17.  Indomptable 

French 

80 

18.  Santa  Ana    . 

Spanish 

112 

A   WIDE   GAP   IN   THE   CENTRE 


103 


Ships. 

19.  Fougueux     . 

20.  Monarca 

21.  Pluton 

22.  AIge9iras 

23.  Bahama 

24.  Aigle   . 

25.  Swiftsure 

26.  Argonaute   . 

27.  Montanez     . 

28.  Argonauta    . 

29.  Berwick 

30.  San   Juan    Nepo 

muceno 

31.  San  Ildefonso 

32.  Achilla 

33.  Principe   de   As- 

turias 


Nationality. 

Guns 

.     French 

74 

.     Spanish 

74 

.     French 

74 

f> 

74 

.     Spanish 

74 

.     French 

74 

„ 

74 

„ 

74 

.     Spanish 

74 

„ 

80 

.     French 

74 

~  >  Spanish 

74 

„ 

74 

French 

74 

\   Spanish 

112 

Throughout  the  morning  both  Villeneuve  and 
Gravina  kept  signalling  incessantly  to  various 
ships  to  get  into  station,  and  in  the  result  at  the 
actual  moment  of  opening  fire  things  had  improved 
somewhat.  The  van,  by  carrying  more  sail,  had 
taken  open  order,  and  the  ships  elsewhere  had 
distributed  themselves  somewhat  more  evenly ;  but 
the  line  was  still  far  from  being  regularly  formed. 
In  the  centre,  there  remained  to  the  last  a  wide 
gap  astern  of  the  "  Bucentaure  "  ;  some  five  of  the 
ships  that  should  have  been  between  the  flagship 
and  the  "  Santa  Ana  "  were  out  of  station  and  to 
leeward.^ 


1  An  officer  of  one  of  Nelson's  ships,  the  "  Conqueror/'  gives  us 
incidentally  a  clear  view  of  the  tactical  disposition  of  the  enemy's 


J  04  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

Admiral  Villeneuve,  for  his  part,  fully  realized 
what  Nelson's  advance  in  two  columns  meant  to  a 

fleet,  as  it  appeared  to  lookers-on  from  the  British  side  ;  suggesting  at 
the  same  time  how  it  came  ahout. 

"The  Combined  Fleet,  after  veering  from  the  starboard  to  the 
larboard  tack,  gradually  fell  into  the  form  of  an  irregular  crescent,  in 
which  they  remained  to  the  moment  of  attack.  Many  have  considered 
that  the  French  Admiral  intended  this  formation  of  the  line  of  battle  ; 
but  from  the  information  I  obtained  after  the  action,  connected  with 
some  documents  found  on  board  the  '  Bucentaure,'  I  believe  it  was  the 
intention  to  have  formed  a  line  ahead,  consisting  of  twenty-one  sail, 
the  supposed  force  of  the  British  Fleet ;  and  a  squadron  of  observation, 
composed  of  twelve  sail  of  the  line,  under  Admiral  Gravina,  intended 
to  act  according  to  circumstances  after  the  British  Fleet  were  engaged. 
By  waring  together,  the  enemy's  line  became  inverted,  and  the  light 
squadron,  which  had  been  advanced  in  the  van  on  the  starboard  tack, 
was  left  in  the  rear  after  waring,  and  the  ships  were  subsequently 
mingled  with  the  rear  of  the  main  body.  The  wind  being  light,  with 
a  heavy  swell,  and  the  fleet  lying  with  their  main  topsails  to  the  mast, 
it  was  impossible  for  the  ships  to  preserve  their  exact  stations  in  the 
line,  consequently  scarce  any  ship  was  immediately  ahead  or  astern  of 
her  second.  The  fleet  had  then  the  appearance,  generally,  of  having 
formed  in  two  lines,  thus : — 

SO  that  the  ships  to  leeward  seemed  to  be  opposite  the  space  left  be- 
tween two  in  the  weather-line.  In  the  rear  the  line  was  in  some  places 
trebled.  .  .  .  All  these  positions  I  believe  to  have  been  merely  acci- 
dental, and  to  accident  alone  I  attribute  the  concave  circle  of  the  fleet, 
or  crescent  line  of  battle.  The  wind  shifted  to  the  westward  as  the 
morning  advanced  ;  and,  of  course,  the  enemy's  ships  came  up  with  the 
wind,  forming  a  bow-and-quarter  line.  The  ships  were  therefore 
obliged  to  edge  away  to  keep  in  the  wake  of  their  leaders,  and  this 
manoeuvre,  from  the  lightness  of  the  wind,  the  unmanageable  state 
of  the  ships  in  a  heavy  swell,  and,  we  may  add,  the  inexperience  of 
the  enemy,  not  being  performed  with  facility  and  dexterity,  un- 
designedly threw  the  combined  fleets  into  a  position  perhaps  the  best 
that  could  have  been  planned  had  it  been  supported  by  the  skilful 
manoeuvring  of  individual  ships  and  with  efficient  practice  in  gunnery.'' 


HOW  THE   BRITISH   FLEET   CAME   ON         105 

fleet  situated  and  arranged  as  his :  but  in  the  cir- 
cumstances he  could  do  little  beyond  awaiting 
attack.  The  French  admiral,  when  a  prisoner  on 
board  the  "  Euryalus  "  three  or  four  days  after  the 
battle,  said,  in  conversation  with  Captain  Black- 
wood, "  he  never  saw  anything  like  the  irresistible 
line  of  our  ships.  That  of  the  '  Victory,'  sup- 
ported by  the  '  Neptune '  and  '  T^meraire,'  was 
what  he  could  not  have  formed  any  judgment  of."^ 

The  British  Fleet  came  on,  approximately  in 
this  order:  advancing  in  two  separate  divisions, 
or  columns,  about  a  mile  apart.  They  were  head- 
ing: Nelson's  column  for  about  the  tenth  or  twelfth 
ship  from  the  van  of  the  Combined  Fleet ;  Colling- 
wood's  column  almost  directly  for  the  centre. 
WEATHER   DIVISION. 


Ships. 

Guns. 

Commanders. 
Vice-Admiral  Lord  Viscount 

Victory  . 

100 

Nelson. 
Captain  T.  M.  Hardy. 

T^meraire 

98 

Eliab  Harvey. 

Neptune  2 

98 

T.  F.  Fremantle. 

Leviathan 

74 

H.  W.  Bayntun. 

1  The  French  have  ever  since  paid  to  Nelson's  mode  of  attack 
at  Trafalgar  the  highest  tribute.  '^On  y  lit  la  defaite  presque  in- 
evitable de  toute  flotte  qui  n'opposera  a  cette  attaque  d'un  genre 
nouveau  que  les  moyens  de  defense  ordinaires.  En  considerant  Tetat 
de  la  science  navale  a  cette  epoque^  on  ne  peut  guere  s'empecher 
de  penser,  avec  les  Anglais,  que  cette  attaque  etait  irresistible." 

2  There  were  three  ^'  Neptunes "  at  Trafalgar :  a  British  98-gun 
ship,  a  French  80,  and  a  Spanish  74,  and  their  several  fates  ex- 
emplified the  fortune  of  the  day.  The  last  was  taken,  the  second  fled, 
the  first  remained  among  the  victors  of  the  "  stricken  field  "  ;  bearing 
out,  moreover,  the  point  of  the  lines  from  Virgil  that  the  master 
carver  of  Deptford  Dockyard — so  an  old  newspaper  paragraph  relates — 


106 


THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 


Names. 

Guns. 

Commanders. 

Conqueror 

74 

Israel  Pellew. 
f  Rear -Admiral  the   Earl  of 

Britannia 

100 

4       Northesk. 

[  Capt.  Chas.  BuUen. 

Agamemnon 

64 

Sir  Edward  Berry. 

Ajax 

74 

Lieut.  J.  Pilfold  (acting). 

Orion 

74 

Edw.  Codrington. 

Minotaur 

74 

C.  J.  M.  Mansfield. 

Spartiate 

74 

Sir  F.  Laforey,  Bart. 

Africa     . 

64 

Henry  Digby. 

LEE  DIVISION. 

Royal  Sovereign 

100 

/  Vice-Admiral  Collingwood. 
\  Capt.  E.  Rotherham. 

Belleisle 

74 

William  Hargood. 

Mars 

74 

George  Duff. 

Tonnant 

80 

Charles  Tyler. 

Bellerophon 

74 

John  Cooke. 

Colossus . 

74 

J.  N.  Morris. 

Achille  . 

74 

Richard  King. 

Dreadnought 

98 

J.  Conn. 

Polyphemus 

64 

Robert  Redmill. 

Revenge 

74 

R.  Moorsom. 

Swiftsure 

74 

W.  G.  Rutherford. 

Defiance 

74 

P.  C.  Durham. 

Thunderer 

74 

Lieut.  J.  Stockham  (acting) 

Defence 

74 

George  Hope. 

Prince    . 

98 

R.  Grindall. 

cut  beneath  the  effigy  of  the  God  of  the  Sea  which  the  British 
''  Neptune  "  at  Trafalgar  bore  for  figure-head  : — 

Non  illi  imperium  pelagi^  ssevumque  tridentem, 
Sed  mihi  sorte  datum. 

The  fate  of  the  three  "  Neptunes  *'  is  also  recorded  in  this  verse  from 
a  letter  written  home  after  the  battle  by  a  sailor  on  board  one  of  the 
British  men-of-war : — 

The  British  "  Neptune,"  as  of  yore, 

Proved  master  of  the  day ; 
The  Spanish  ''Neptune''  is  no  more. 
The  French  one  ran  away. 

There  were  also  two  '*  Swiftsures  "  and  two  ''Achilles  **  in  the  battle. 


Tasitum  ofttu  Sraufi  FUet  t&,2)AyligH.  en.  ike  %i  "cfOWifcS 


^^       V  .         ^  ^  ^  ^ 

9  0         i 

3'^Jbtiiion  at  ScClotk .  ^ 

.)"'Am(u>/i  or  ucChdi  axViion 


AthJlt  # 


'^ 


ipanuk   tcUe* 


PLAN  OF  THE  ATTACK   AT  TRAFALGAR,   ENCLOSED  WITH 
COLLINGWOOD's  DESPATCHES 

[The  original,  signed  by  Villeneuve's  Flag-Captain  Magendie,  as  answering  for  the 
general  disposition  of  the  Combined  Fleet  at  the  outset  of  the  battle,  was  found 
among  the  papers  of  Lord  Barham,  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty  in  November,  1805, 
by  Professor  J.  K.  Laughton,  r.n.,  who  considers  the  position  assigned  to  part  at 
least  of  the  British  Fleet,  as  "impossible."  Compare  Magendie's  own  map,  sent  to 
the  Ministry  of  Marine  in  Paris :  Appendix  C] 


108  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

Ranged  along  the  two  lines,  to  repeat  signals 
and  assist  crippled  ships,  were  the  British  frigates 
and  small  craft. 


Ships. 

Guns. 

Commanders. 

Euryalus 

36 

Hon.  H.  Blackwood. 

Sirius . 

36 

William  Prowse. 

Phoebe 

36 

Hon.  T.  B.  Capel. 

Naiad 

38 

T.  Dundas. 

Pickle 

8 

Lieut.  J.  R.  Lapenotiere 

Entreprenante 

12 

Lieut.  R.  B.  Young. 

The  van  of  Lord  Nelson's  line  was  the  stronger 
of  the  two.  It  comprised  the  three  three-deckers, 
"  Victory,"  "  Temeraire,"  and  "  Neptune" ;  with  the 
old  "Britannia,"  a  first-rate,  coming  up  a  little 
astern  of  them.  ColUngwood,  leading  in  the 
"  Royal  Sovereign,"  had  only  two-deckers  at  hand 
to  support  him ;  although  the  three  first  of  these, 
the  "  Belleisle,"  "  Mars,"  and  "  Tonnant "  were  ex- 
ceptionally powerful  ships.  There  were  two  three- 
deckers  in  the  British  lee  column,  the  "Dread- 
nought" and  the  "Prince,"  both  98's;  but  both 
were  some  way  back.  The  "  Prince,"  indeed,  was 
last  ship  of  the  whole  fleet ;  at  the  extreme  rear 
of  CoUingwood's  line. 

Nelson  had  designedly  concentrated  his  heavier 
ships  in  the  van  of  his  own  line,  the  better  to 
assist  CoUingwood  by  threatening  and  holding 
the  enemy's  van  in  check  and  preventing  it,  when 
the  British  main  attack  was  delivered  by  the  lee 
line,  from  doubling  back  to  reinforce  the  centre 
and  rear. 


''A   BEAUTIFUL  SIGHT"  109 

A  British  officer,  Midshipman  Badcock,  of  the 
British  "Neptune,"  afterwards  wrote  down  his 
recollection  of  the  scene  as  the  fleets  neared. 
"  It  was  a  beautiful  sight,"  he  says,  "  when  their 
line  was  completed,  their  broadsides  turned  to- 
wards us,  showing  their  iron  teeth,  and  now  and 
then  trying  the  range  of  a  shot  to  ascertain  the 
distance,  that  they  might,  the  moment  we  came 
within  point  blank  (about  six  hundred  yards),  open 
their  fire  upon  our  van  ships, — no  doubt  with  the 
hope  of  dismasting  some  of  our  leading  vessels 
before  they  could  close  and  break  their  line.  Some 
of  the  enemy's  ships  were  painted  like  ourselves, — 
with  double  yellow  sides,  some  with  a  broad  single 
red  or  yellow  streak,  others  all  black,  and  the 
noble  'Santissima  Trinidada'  (138)  with  four 
distinct  lines  of  red,  with  a  white  ribbon  between 
them,  made  her  seem  to  be  a  superb  man-of-war, 
which,  indeed,  she  was.  Her  appearance  was 
imposing,  her  head  splendidly  ornamented  with 
a  colossal  group  of  figures,  painted  white,  re- 
presenting the  Holy  Trinity  from  which  she  took 
her  name."  Vice- Admiral  Alava's  flagship,  the 
three-decker  "  Santa  Ana,"  had  an  immense  effigy 
of  the  mother  of  the  Virgin,  garbed  in  red,  for 
her  figure-head.  As  a  badge  of  her  nationality, 
every  French  ship  bore  on  her  stem  a  lozenge- 
shaped  escutcheon,  painted  in  three  horizontal 
bands  of  blue,  white,  and  red.  As  in  the  British 
Fleet,  so  in  the  Combined  Fleet,  several  of  the 


110  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

captains  went  into  battle  with  extra  colours  lashed 
in  the  rigging,  in  addition  to  ship's  ensign  at  the 
gaff.  "  Va  de  Bon  Coeur  "  Cosmao  of  the  "  Pluton," 
and  Valdez  of  the  "  Neptuno,"  had  each,  we  are 
told,  three  colours  flying. 

Here  is  Admiral  Villeneuve's  account  of  events 
on  that  morning  [Compte  Rendu:  Appendix  B]: — 

"We  sighted  the  enemy,  as  soon  as  it  was 
daylight,  to  the  west,  to  the  number  of  thirty- 
three  sail  in  all,  and  about  two  leagues  and  a  half 
off.  Cape  Trafalgar  was  made  at  the  same  time : 
— to  the  east-south-east,  about  four  leagues  off.  I 
signalled  to  the  frigates  to  reconnoitre  the  enemy 
and  to  the  fleet  to  form  line  of  battle  on  the 
starboard  tack,  officers  in  command  leading  their 
divisions.  Admiral  Gravina  simultaneously  sig- 
nalled to  the  Squadron  of  Observation  to  take  post 
in  line  at  the  head  of  the  Combined  Fleet.  The 
wind  was  very  light  from  the  west,  with  a  heavy 
swell  on. 

"The  enemy's  fleet,  which  was  counted  as 
twenty-seven  ships  of  the  line,  seemed  to  be  head- 
ing en  masse  for  my  rear  squadron ;  with  the  double 
object,  apparently,  of  engaging  in  greatly  superior 
force  and  on  cutting  the  Combined  Fleet  off  from 
Cadiz.  I  therefore  signalled  for  the  fleet  to  wear 
all  together,  and  form  line  of  battle  in  the  reverse 
order.  My  main  idea  was  to  secure  the  rear 
squadron  from  being  overpowered  by  the  enemy's 


"NOT   REALLY   A   DISADVANTAGE"  111 

attack  in  force.  Through  this  new  disposition  the 
third  squadron,  under  Rear- Admiral  Dumanoir, 
became  the  advance  guard,  with  the  Neptune, 
commanded  by  Don  Gaetano  Valdez,  as  squadron 
leader.  I  myself  was  in  the  centre  of  the  fleet,  in 
the  Bucentaure,  and  Vice- Admiral  Alava  followed 
me  with  the  second  squadron.  The  Squadron  of 
Observation,  under  the  orders  of  Admiral  Gravina, 
formed  the  rear  guard,  with,  as  second-in-com- 
mand. Rear- Admiral  Magon  in  the  Alge^iras. 

"  The  enemy  continued  to  steer  for  us  under  all 
sail,  and  at  nine  o'clock  I  was  able  to  make  out 
that  their  fleet  was  formed  in  two  columns,  of 
which  one  was  heading  directly  for  my  flagship 
and  the  other  towards  the  rear  of  the  Combined 
Fleet.  The  wind  was  very  light,  the  sea  with 
a  swell  on,  owing  to  which  our  formation  in  line 
was  rendered  very  difficult  to  effect ;  but  in  the 
circumstances,  considering  the  nature  of  the  attack 
that  I  foresaw  the  enemy  were  about  to  make,  the 
irregularity  of  our  order  did  not  seem  a  dis- 
advantage, if  each  ship  could  have  continued  to 
keep  to  the  wind,  and  close  upon  the  ship  next 
ahead.  ["  Notre  formation  s'effectuait  avec  beau- 
coup  de  peine ;  mais  dans  le  genre  d'attaque  que 
je  prevoyais  que  I'ennemi  allait  nous  faire,  cette 
irregularite  meme  dans  notre  ligne  ne  me  paraissait 
pas  un  inconvenient."] 

"  I  made  a  signal  to  the  leading  ships  to  keep 
as  close  as  possible  to  the  wind  and  to  make  all 


112  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

sail  possible.  At  eleven  o'clock  I  signalled  to  the 
rear  squadron  to  keep  closer  to  the  wind  and 
support  the  centre,  which  appeared  to  be  the  point 
on  which  the  enemy  now  appeared  to  be  directing 
his  main  attack.  The  enemy  meanwhile  came 
steadily  on,  though  the  wind  was  very  light. 
They  had  their  most  powerful  ships  at  the  head  of 
the  columns.  That  to  the  north  had  four  three- 
deckers." 

We  have  also  this  from  the  report  on  the  doings 
of  his  ship  at  Trafalgar  forwarded  by  Captain 
Lucas  of  the  "Redoutable"  to  the  Ministry  of 
Marine : — 

"On  the  29th  Vendemiaire,  at  daybreak,  the 
enemy  were  sighted  to  windward ;  that  is  to  the 
west-south-west  or  south-west.  The  wind  was 
very  light  and  there  was  still  a  heavy  sea  running. 
The  Combined  Fleet  was  spread  out  from  south- 
east to  north-west ;  the  ships  being  much  scattered, 
and  not  forming  any  apparent  order.  The  enemy 
also  were  not  in  any  order,  but  their  ships  were 
fast  manoeuvring  to  close.  Their  force  was  now 
reconnoitred  and  reported  exactly.  It  comprised 
twenty-seven  sail  of  the  line,  of  which  seven  were 
three-deckers,  besides  four  frigates  and  a  schooner. 

"  About  seven  in  the  morning  the  admiral  again 
signalled  for  the  whole  fleet  to  form  in  line  of 
battle  '  dans  I'ordre  naturel ' ;  flag-officers  at  the 
head  of  their  divisions,  on  the  starboard  tack.     I 


A   PUSH    FOR   THE   POST    OF   HONOUR         113 

then  left  the  place  I  had  been  in  for  the  latter  part 
of  the  night  and  put  about  to  rejoin  the  chief  and 
take  post  in  the  station  assigned  me  in  the  line  of 
battle.  I  was,  though,  some  distance  from  it,  and 
it  was  half-past  eight  before  I  succeeded  in  placing 
my  ship  in  her  station. 

"By  nine  o'clock  the  enemy  had  formed  up  in  two 
columns  (pelotons).  They  were  under  all  sail — they 
even  had  studding  sails  out — and  heading  directly 
for  our  fleet,  before  a  light  breeze  from  the  west- 
south-west.  Admiral  Villeneuve,  being  of  the 
opinion,  apparently,  that  they  were  intending  to 
make  an  attack  on  our  rear,  tacked  the  fleet  all 
together.  In  this  new  order  the  Redoutable's 
place  was  third  ship  astern  of  the  flagship  Bucen- 
taure.  I  at  once  made  every  effort  to  take 
station  in  the  wake  of  the  flagship,  leaving  be- 
tween her  and  myself  the  space  necessary  for  my 
two  immediate  leaders.  One  of  them  was  not 
very  far  out  of  its  station,  but  the  other  showed 
no  signs  of  trying  to  take  post.  That  ship  was  at 
some  distance  to  leeward  of  the  line,  which  was 
now  beginning  to  form  ahead  of  the  admiral. 

"  Towards  eleven  o'clock  the  two  columns  of  the 
enemy  were  drawing  near  us.  One  was  led  by  a 
three-decker,  the  Royal  Sovereign,  and  headed 
towards  our  present  rear  squadron.  The  other, 
led  by  the  Victory  and  the  Temeraire,  was 
manoeuvring  as  if  to  attack  our  centre,  the  Corps 
de  bataille" 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE   EAGLE   OF  THE   "BUCENTAURE'' 

AT  half-past  eleven  Admiral  Villeneuve  ran  up 
-  the  general  signal,  "No.  242: — Open  Fire!" 
Three-quarters  of  an  hour  later,  the  "  Bueentaure  " 
hoisted  at  the  fore  yet  another  signal,  reiterating, 
in  effect,  what  Villeneuve  had  enjoined  on  his 
captains  at  Cadiz : — "  Tout  capitaine  qui  n'est  pas 
dans  le  feu  n'est  pas  a  son  poste ! " 

As  the  first  shot  went  off — it  was  fired  by  the 
"Fougueux"  (next  astern  of  the  "Santa  Ana")  and 
aimed  at  the  "  Royal  Sovereign,"  then  a  little  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant,  the  Combined 
Fleet  hoisted  their  colours  in  unison — "  the  drums 
and  fifes  playing  and  the  soldiers  presenting  arms." 
Every  Spanish  ship,  in  addition,  showed  a  large 
wooden  cross,  swung  from  the  boom-end  over  the 
taffrail.  The  crosses  had  been  solemnly  blessed  by 
the  various  padres,  or  chaplains,  on  board  ship,  and 
were  meant  as  "  fetic^as  "  to  ward  off  disaster  from 
the  vessels. 

"At  a  quarter  past  eleven,"  says  the  captain 
of  the  Redoutable  (whose  watch  seems  to  have 

1x4 


"PREPARED   TO   SACRIFICE   MY   SHIP"        115 

been  slow),  "the  ships  of  our  rear  division 
began  firing  on  the  Royal  Sovereign.  That  ship 
in  reply  fired  at  us  also,  but  from  too  far  off,  and  I 
did  not  fire  back.  I  was  all  the  time  following  in  the 
wake  of  the  commander-in-chief,  but  there  was 
still  a  wide  gap  between  him  and  myself  which 
had  not  been  filled  by  the  two  ships  that  ought  to 
have  been  ahead  of  me.  One  of  the  two  was  now 
too  far  to  leeward  to  be  able  to  take  her  post.  The 
other,  which,  I  have  already  said,  was  not  far  off  and 
was  coming  up,  turned  aside  to  fire  at  the  Royal 
Sovereign,  which  had  come  nearly  within  half  gun- 
shot range  of  her.  The  column  led  by  Admiral 
Nelson  was  nearing  our  Corps  de  bataille,  and  the 
two  three-deckers  that  headed  the  British  were 
manoeuvring  with  the  evident  intention  of  isolating 
and  doubUng  on  the  French  admiral's  flagship. 

"  One  of  the  two  was  making  to  pass  close  astern 
of  the  Bucentaure.  I  soon  saw  that,  and  being 
now  convinced  that  my  two  immediate  leaders 
were  not  going  to  take  up  their  allotted  posts,  I 
pushed  on  ahead  and  closed  on  the  flagship,  so 
as,  in  effect,  to  keep  the  Redoutable's  bowsprit 
almost  touching  the  tafFrail  of  the  Bucentaure. 
I  made  up  my  mind  to  sacrifice  my  ship,  if  neces- 
sary, in  defence  of  the  flagship.  So  also  I  told  my 
officers  and  men,  who  answered  me  with  shouts 
and  cheers,  repeated  over  and  over  again.  'Vive 
I'Empereur  1 '  *  Vive  FAmiral  I ' '  Vive  le  Command- 
ant!'    Preceded  by  the  drums  and  fifes,  I  then 


116  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

went,  accompanied  by  the  officers  of  my  personal 
suite,  round  the  decks  and  batteries  throughout 
the  ship.  Everywhere  I  found  my  brave  fellows 
burning  with  impatience  to  begin.  Many,  as  I 
passed  along  called  out  to  me:  'Commandant, 
n'oubliez  pas  I'abordage!'  ('Captain,  don't  forget 
to  board  1 ')" 

A  French  admiral  (Jurien  de  la  Graviere)  is 
responsible  for  the  following  extraordinary  story 
of  Admiral  Villeneuve  on  board  the  "  Bucentaure  " 
at  the  outset  of  the  battle.  Describing  the  group- 
ing of  the  French  and  Spanish  ships  round  the 
admiral  at  the  moment  that  Nelson  was  nearing 
the  line,  he  says — 

"The  Redoutable's  bowsprit  had  touched  several 
times  the  tafFrail  of  the  Bucentaure,  so  close 
was  she.  The  Santisima  Trinidad  was  almost 
lying  to,  just  ahead  of  the  Bucentaure.  The 
Neptune  was  closed  up  near  by  to  leeward, 
A  collision  (with  the  Victory  as  she  came  on) 
appeared  inevitable.  At  that  moment  Villeneuve 
seized  the  eagle  of  his  ship  ^  and  displayed  it  to  the 
sailors  who  surrounded  him.  *My  friends,'  he 
called  out,  '  I  am  going  to  throw  this  on  board  the 
English  ship.   We  will  go  and  fetch  it  back  or  die!' 

^ "  Tous  les  vaisseaux,''  says  M.  Brun  in  his  "  Guerres  Maritimes 
de  France,"  ''  etaient  gratifies  d'une  aigle  et  d'un  drapeau  a  leur  nom, 
donnes  par  I'Empereur  a  son  couronnement,  ou  avaient  assiste  et  prete 
serment  des  deputations  du  port  et  de  I'armee  navale  :  chaque  vaisseau 
avait  envoye  sa  deputation,  composee  de  trois  officiers,  trois  officiers 
mariniers  et  quatre  gabiers  ou  matelots."    Although  what  became  of 


"LA   REPRENDRE   OU    MOURIR!"  117 

(*Mes  amis,  je  vais  la  jeter  a  bord  du  vaisseau 
anglais.  Nous  irons  la  reprendre  ou  mourir ! ')  Our 
seamen  responded  to  these  noble  words  by  their 
acclamations. 

"  Full  of  hope  for  the  issue  of  a  combat  fought 
hand  to  hand,  Villeneuve,  before  the  smoke  of 
battle  blotted  out  the  Bucentaure  from  the  view 
of  the  fleet,  made  a  last  signal  to  his  ships. 
'  Every  ship,'  he  signalled,  '  which  is  not  in  action 
is  not  at  its  post,  and  must  take  station  to  bring 
herself  as  speedily  as  possible  under  fire.'  ('Tout 
vaisseau  qui  ne  combat  point,  n'est  pas  a  son  poste, 
et  doit  prendre  une  position  quelconque  le  reporte 
le  plus  promptement  au  feu.')  His  i^ole  of  admiral 
was  finished.  It  only  remained  for  him  to  show 
himself  personally  the  bravest  of  his  captains." 

the  Eagle  of  the  "  Bucentaure  "  is  unknown,  and  no  eagle  belonging 
to  a  ship  of  war  was  ever  taken  by  us,  one  is  still  in  existence.  It 
is  in  the  Museo  Naval  at  Madrid,  and  belonged  to  the  ''Atlas,"  a 
French  74  left  by  Villeneuve  at  Ferrol.  It  was  captured  in  1808  when 
Spain  rose  against  Napoleon  and  seized  all  the  French  men-of-war 
then  sheltering  in  Spanish  ports. 


CHAPTER    VIII 

HOW   THE    BATTLE    SHAPED    ITSELF 

rpHE  general  course  of  events  at  Trafalgar  makes 
-*-  up  a  tale  that  is  common  knowledge.  There 
is  no  need  to  do  more  than  outline  here  how 
things  shaped  themselves. 

The  long  straggUng  array  of  the  Combined 
Fleet — extending,  when  the  battle  opened,  over 
five  miles  of  sea  from  end  to  end — broke  up,  before 
the  close  of  the  first  hour's  fighting,  into  three 
separate  clusters  or  groups  of  ships. 

The  largest  group  of  the  three  comprised  the 
flagship  "Santa  Ana"  and  most  of  the  ships 
astern  of  the  point  at  which  Colhngwood  broke 
through,  away  to  Gravina  in  the  "  Principe,"  the 
rearmost  ship  of  all.  They  were  attacked  at 
several  points  almost  simultaneously ;  the  ships  of 
Collingwood's  division  for  the  most  part  heading 
for  them  en  Echelon,  or  slantwise,  "  in  line  of  bear- 
ing." Gravina's  blimder  earlier  in  the  day  in  quit- 
ting his  station  to  windward  and  tailing  on  the 
Squadron  of  Observation  in  wake  of  the  battle 
squadron,  made  things  easier  for  some  of  Colling- 

ii8 


THE  VAN  SQUADRON  STANDS  ON  II9 

wood's  ships  than  perhaps  they  might  have  been. 
As  has  been  said,  it  deprived  Admiral  Villeneuve 
of  the  mobile  division  that  he  had  proposed  to 
keep  as  an  emergency  force,  or  for  a  counter 
stroke. 

A  considerable  gap  separated  the  "  Santa  Ana  " 
from  the  centre  group  to  northward,  the  ships 
next  ahead  of  Alava.  There,  a  small  body  of 
ships  were  fighting  at  bay,  outnumbered  and 
isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  Combined  Fleet. 
The  "  Bucentaure "  herself,  and  the  "  Santisima 
Trinidad,"  were  among  them,  with  the  "Re- 
doutable,"  the  French  "  Neptune,"  and  the  "  Fou- 
gueux,"  which  moved  up  from  the  rear  group  to 
join  them  some  little  time  after  the  battle  had 
begun.  Cut  off  from  their  consorts  on  either 
hand,  and  roughly  handled  by  the  leading  ships  of 
Nelson's  column,  as  these,  coming  up  close  astern 
of  one  another,  attacked  them  in  succession,  the 
fate  of  the  centre  group  was  only  a  question  of 
time.  The  van  squadron,  meanwhile,  had  made 
no  sign  at  all  of  coming  round  to  the  rescue  of 
their  sorely  pressed  admiral. 

The  ten  ships  of  Admiral  Dumanoir's  division 
were  still  standing  stolidly  ahead,  having  as  yet 
hardly  fired  a  shot.  Nearly  three-quarters  of  a 
mile  of  clear  sea  separated  the  rearmost  ship  of 
these,  the  "  H^ros,"  from  the  stubbornly  resisting 
"  Santisima  Trinidad  "  and  "  Bucentaure."  Head- 
ing slowly  northward,  Admiral  Dumanoir's  group 


120  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

drew  away  farther  and  farther,  and  increased  the 
gap,  ignoring  the  signal  to  turn  back  that  the 
"Bueentaure"  made  as  the  battle  was  opening, 
and  the  frigate  "  Hermione  "  repeated  on  Admiral 
Villeneuve's  behalf. 

What  that  inaction  meant,  and  its  result,  has 
been  set  forth  with  admirable  lucidity  by  a  French 
officer  of  the  present  time,  the  most  distinguished 
French  naval  historian  of  our  day. 

"At  12.10  p.m.,"  says  Captain  Chevalier  "the 
Royal  Sovereign  passed  through  the  line  astern  of 
the  Santa  Ana.  A  little  later  the  Bucentaure  and 
the  Santisima  Trinidad  opened  fire  on  the  Victory. 
At  that  time  it  was  impossible  to  be  under  any 
misapprehension  concerning  the  mode  of  attack 
adopted  by  the  enemy.  At  12.30,  just  as  the 
Victory  passed  astern  of  the  Bucentaure,  Admiral 
Villeneuve  ordered  every  ship  which  was  not 
engaged  to  get  into  action.  It  must  be  supposed 
that  Admiral  Dumanoir  Le  Pelley  did  not  con- 
sider this  signal  to  be  addressed  to  the  ships  he 
commanded,  as  he  made  no  movement  in  response. 
Admiral  Villeneuve,  however,  took  no  notice  of 
his  inaction.  By  not  making  a  fresh  signal,  direct- 
ing the  van  to  get  into  action  instantly.  Admiral 
Villeneuve  appeared  to  approve  of  the  conduct  of 
his  subordinate.  At  the  same  time  the  rear- 
admiral,  by  intimating  at  one  o'clock  that  the  van 
had  no  opponents  to  engage,  plainly  showed  that 


DUMANOIR'S   "SERIOUS   ERROR"  121 

he  had  no  intention  of  takuig  the  initiative  in  any 
step  that  might  alter  the  original  disposition  of 
the  fleet.  Instead  of  acting  on  his  own  account, 
he  asked  for  orders.  Vice- Admiral  Villeneuve  did 
not  give  him  any:  or  rather,  he  gave  them  too  late. 
It  was  not  until  1.50  that  the  Bucentaure  signalled 
to  the  van  to  go  about  and  get  into  action.^  By 
that  time  the  centre  was  no  longer  able  to  offer 
any  serious  resistance  to  the  enemy.  It  was,  there- 
fore, quite  too  late. 

"This,  of  course,  does  not  exculpate  Admiral 
Dumanoir.  On  the  contrary,  one  has  to  look 
the  more  closely  into  the  nature  of  the  responsi- 
bility which  rested  on  him.  What,  in  fact,  is  to 
be  said  of  the  behaviour  of  the  leader  of  the  van 
who,  when  the  fate  of  the  action  was  hanging  in 
the  balance,  waited  so  long  for  orders  to  do 
what  he  knew  was  a  matter  of  urgency?  Those 
orders  also  he  himself  asked  for.  Rear- Admiral 
Dumanoir,  undoubtedly,  committed  a  serious  error 
in  not  leading  the  division  he  commanded,  on  his 
own  responsibility,  to  the  assistance  of  the 
Bucentaure,  as  soon  as  that  ship  was  seen  to  be 
surrounded. 

"It  would  seem  as  if  a  fatality  clung  to  the 
movements  of  our  van.     When,  after  having  been 

*  "  L'armee  navale  Fran9aise,  combattant  au  vent  ou  sous  le  vent, 
ordre  aux  vaisseaux,  qui,  par  leur  position  actuelle  ne  combattent  pas, 
d'en  prendre  une  quelconque,  qui  les  reporte  le  plus  promptement 
au  feu." 


122  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

too  long  inactive,  it  did  turn  towards  the  scene  of 
the  fighting,  it  spht  up.  As  a  compact  force,  it 
might  have  done  something ;  as  a  divided  one,  it 
actually  invited  the  blows  of  the  foe.  If  Rear- 
Admiral  Dumanoir  had  been  followed  by  the 
whole  of  the  van  squadron,  it  is  quite  conceivable 
that  he  might  have  fallen  upon  the  ships  which 
surrounded  the  Bucentaure  and  the  Santisima 
Trinidad.  Ten  ships  which  had  as  yet  been 
scarcely  engaged,  suddenly  coming  on  the  scene 
at  the  centre  of  action,  if  they  could  not,  perhaps, 
have  changed  the  issue  of  the  day,  must  certainly 
have  inflicted  severe  losses  on  the  enemy ;  yet,  as 
a  fact,  we  lost  the  San  Agustin,  the  Neptuno,  and 
the  Intrepide,  as  one  result  of  the  move.  Also, 
these  three  ships  were  captured  separately.  The 
two  last-named  covered  themselves  with  glory,  no 
doubt,  but  it  is  to  be  regretted  all  the  more  that 
gallant  officers  like  Captains  Valdez  and  Infernet 
did  not  understand  the  necessity  for  the  ships  of 
the  van  to  keep  together.  Such  a  result  could 
only  have  been  secured  by  following  Rear- Admiral 
Dumanoir. 

"'I  had  good  right,'  wrote  the  commander  of 
the  van  division,  '  to  complain  in  my  despatch  of 
having  been  followed  in  the  Formidable  by  three 
ships  only.  The  Intrepide,  while  putting  about  in 
answer  to  the  signal,  fell  on  board  the  Mont  Blanc, 
and  tore  out  that  ship's  foremast.  She  then,  to- 
gether with  four  other  ships,  kept  away,  running 


WITH   ONLY   FOUR   SHIPS    LEFT  123 

with  the  wind  on  the  quarter  to  join  the  vessels  of 
the  Combined  Fleet  to  leeward ;  but,  as  she  sailed 
very  badly,  it  was  not  long  before  she  was  over- 
hauled by  the  enemy,  after  which  she  made  that 
splendid  defence  of  which  Captain  Infemet  is 
entitled  to  feel  proud.  As  for  the  Neptuno,  Cap- 
tain Valdez,  she  was  the  leading  ship  of  the  fleet, 
and  was  to  windward.  After  having  put  about, 
she  remained  to  windward ;  kept  away ;  came  to 
the  wind  again  ;  manoeuvring  throughout  with  the 
greatest  lack  of  decision.  Finally,  but  very  late 
in  the  day,  she  made  up  her  mind  to  follow  me.  I 
was  well  past  the  Admiral  (the  Bucentaure)  when 
she  fell  into  my  wake.  Up  to  that  moment  she 
had  kept  her  luflf,  having  never  drawn  as  close  to 
the  enemy  as  we  did.'  With  only  four  ships," 
says  Captain  Chevalier,  "  Dumanoir  did  not  dare 
to  bear  up  towards  the  foe." 

He  turned  away  and  stood  off  to  the  westward, 
between  four  and  five  in  the  afternoon ;  about  the 
same  time  that  Gravina,  having  rallied  what  other 
ships  were  left  fighting  here  and  there,  eleven  in 
all,  also  quitted  the  scene  of  battle,  making  for 
Cadiz. 

Once  battle  was  joined,  every  British  ship  as 
she  came  up  closed  the  first  of  the  enemy  she 
came  across  and  engaged  yard-arm  to  yard-arm,  to 
fight  it  out  "entour^  de  feu  et  de  fumee."  The  ships 
of  Nelson's  own  column,  for  the  most  part  follow- 


134  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

ing  in  the  track  of  the  "  Victory "  at  the  outset, 
found  their  work  to  hand  in  dealing  with  the 
"Bucentaure" and  "Santisima  Trinidad"  and  certain 
other  ships  in  that  quarter.  After  that  they  moved 
northward  and  brought  to  action  the  ships  of  the 
van  division  of  the  Combined  Fleet  which  first 
turned  back  into  the  battle.  CoUingwood's  ships, 
attacking  more  or  less  in  a  slantwise  formation, 
broke  through  the  straggling  centre  and  rear 
divisions  of  the  Combined  Fleet,  to  all  intents 
simultaneously.  [See  the  Captain  of  the  Bucen- 
taure's  plan  of  the  attack:  Appendix  C]  The 
majority  attacked  the  first  of  the  enemy  that  they 
came  alongside,  and  after  a  brisk  set-to,  ship  to 
ship,  passed  on,  leaving  consorts  near  by  or  astern 
to  continue  the  fighting.  In  this  way  most  of  the 
ships  of  the  Combined  Fleet  found  themselves 
either  beset  by  an  overpowering  force  from  the 
first,  or  faced  in  rapid  succession  by  a  series  of 
antagonists,  with  equally  disastrous  results. 

"  The  mode  of  attack  adopted  with  such  success 
in  the  Trafalgar  action,"  wrote  a  British  officer 
who  saw  the  battle  from  the  quarter-deck  of  the 
"Conqueror,"  "appears  to  me  to  have  succeeded 
from  the  enthusiasm  inspired  throughout  the 
British  Fleet;  from  their  being  commanded  by 
their  beloved  Nelson ;  from  the  gallant  conduct  of 
the  leaders  of  the  two  divisions ;  from  the  indi- 
vidual exertions  of  each  ship  after  the  attack  com- 
menced, and  the  superior  practice  of  the  guns  in 


''A   SUCCESSION  OF   SINGLE   FIGHTS"         125 

the  English  Fleet.  It  was  successful  also  from 
the  consternation  spread  through  the  combined 
fleet  on  finding  the  British  so  much  stronger  than 
was  expected ;  from  the  astonishing  and  rapid  de- 
struction which  followed  the  attack  of  the  leaders, 
witnessed  by  the  whole  of  the  hostile  fleets,  inspir- 
ing the  one  and  dispiriting  the  other,  and  from  the 
loss  of  the  Admiral's  ship  early  in  the  action." 
Said  a  Spanish  letter  from  the  Combined  Fleet 

^^  ^ 

w  ^ 


KnrJWi.  En«ll-h. 

SPANISH    PLAKS   OF  THE   OPENING    ATTACK   AT  TRAFALGAR 
AND   AFTER-DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE   BATTLE 

From  a  contemporary  MS.  official  report,  among  the  Egerton  Papers  at  the 
British  Museum 

as  to  the  trend  of  events  after  the  opening 
attacks  by  the  "  Royal  Sovereign  "  and  the  "  Vic- 
tory": "The  other  Ships  of  both  the  Enemy's 
Columns  kept  deploying  upon  the  Combined 
Fleet,  whose  Une  was  broken  by  the  dismasting  of 
some  Vessels,  the  flight  and  the  shipwreck  of 
others  ;  so  that  the  Action  was  no  longer  a  general 
one,  but  a  succession  of  single  fights."  ^ 

1  Egerton  MSS.   382,   f.   23.     Translated  in   Sir  N.  H.   Nicolas' 
"  Despatches  and  Letters  of  Lord  Nelson,"  vol.  VII,  p.  288. 


126  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

This  time-table  shows  approximately  how  the 
fortune  of  the  day  went  from  hour  to  hour  on 
the  side  of  the  Combined  Fleet.  As  will  be  seen, 
the  battle  had  been  practically  decided  by  a  little 
after  three  o'clock. 

12.10.  "  Fougueux  "  fired  first  shot. 

12.20.  Collingwood  broke  the  enemy's  line. 

12.40.  Nelson  broke  through. 

1.20.  Nelson  wounded. 

1.30.  "  Redoutable  "  surrendered. 

1.50.  "  Fougueux  "  boarded  and  taken. 

Between  2  and  3  o'clock  the  following  ships 
struck  their  colours; — 

"  Bucentaure  "  (Admiral  Villeneuve's  flagship). 
"  Santa  Ana  "  (Admiral  Alava's  flagship). 
"  Santisima  Trinidad  "  (Rear- Admiral  Cisneros). 
"Algecjiras"  (Rear- Admiral  Magon's  flagship — 

boarded  and  taken). 
"San  Juan  Nepomuceno"  (Commodore  Chur- 

ruca). 
"  Bahama  "  (Commodore  Galiano). 
"  Monarca." 
«  Aigle." 
Fr.  "  Swiftsure." 

Thus  within  three  hours  of  CoUingwood's  opening 
of  the  attack,  eleven  of  the  enemy  out  of  thirty- 
three  had  surrendered — a  third  of  the  Combined 
Fleet. 


SEVEN    MORE   ACCOUNTED    FOR  127 

Between  3.15  and  4.30  these  surrendered  : — 

"  Argonauta." 

"  San  Agustin." 

"  San  lldefonso." 

*'  Berwick." 

"  Achille  "  was  on  fire  and  had  ceased  resistance. 

Before  4.30,  when  Nelson  died,  eleven  of  the 
enemy  had  run  out  of  the  battle  and  were  in  full 
flight  for  Cadiz  under  Admiral  Gravina.  Four 
others,  under  Rear- Admiral  Dumanoir,  were  out 
of  range  and  standing  to  westward  to  escape. 

At  five  o'clock,  or  a  few  minutes  afterwards,  the 
last  two  of  the  enemy  to  make  a  stand,  surrendered. 

"  Intrepide  "  (Captain  Infemet). 

"Neptuno"  (Commodore  Valdez). 

What  happened  on  board  individual  ships  on 
the  enemy's  side,  as  related  by  some  of  those  who 
went  through  the  day  at  Trafalgar ;  how  most  of 
them  faced  their  fate  gallantly  for  the  honour  of 
their  flag,  and  yielded  only  when  further  resistance 
was  hopeless :  is  now  to  be  told. 


CHAPTER  IX 

VILLENEUVE'S  TRAFALGAR  DESPATCH 

ADMIRAL  VILI>ENEUVE'S  Trafalgar  des- 
-^^  patch  to  the  Minister  of  Marine  in  Paris  was 
written  while  the  French  Commander-in-Chief 
was  a  prisoner  of  war  on  board  the  British  frigate 
"Euryalus,"  on  the  15th  of  November.  It  was 
forwarded  after  his  arrival  in  England. 

An  expression  of  extreme  regret  at  the  position 
in  which  the  French  admiral  found  himself  opens 
the  narrative.  Then,  after  outlining  the  events  of 
Sunday  the  30th  of  October,  after  the  Combined 
Fleet  was  at  sea,  and  the  earlier  events  of  Monday 
morning,  it  proceeds  to  relate  what  happened 
during  the  battle  within  Admiral  Villeneuve's 
personal  knowledge.  [The  text  of  Villeneuve's 
"  Compte  Rendu "  forms  Appendix  B.] 

"At  midday  I  signalled  to  the  fleet  to  begin 
firing  as  soon  as  the  enemy  was  within  range  and 
at  a  quarter  past  twelve  the  opening  shots  were 
fired  by  the  Fougueux  and  the  Santa  Ana — at 
the  Royal  Sovereign,  which  led  the  enemy's  star- 
board column,  with  the  flag  of  Admiral  Colling- 
wood.     The  firing  broke  off  for  a  brief  interval, 

128 


HOW  THE   "VICTORY"   ATTACKED  129 

after  which  it  reopened  fiercely  from  all  the  ships 
within  range.  It  could  not,  however,  prevent  the 
enemy  from  breaking  the  line  astern  of  the  Santa 
Ana. 

"  The  port  column,  led  by  the  Victory,  with  the 
flag  of  Admiral  Nelson,  came  on  in  much  the  same 
way.  She  appeared  as  if  she  was  aiming  to  break 
the  Une  between  the  Santisima  Trinidad  and  the 
bows  of  the  Bucentaure.  Whether,  however, 
they  found  our  line  too  well  closed  up  at  that 
point,  or  from  some  other  reason,  when  they  were 
almost  within  half  pistol-shot — while  we,  for  our 
part,  prepared  to  board  and  had  our  grappling-irons 
ready  for  throwing — they  swung  off  to  starboard 
and  passed  astern  of  the  Bucentaure.  The  Re- 
doutable  had  the  station  of  the  Neptune,  which  had 
fallen  to  leeward,  and  she  heroically  fulfiilled  the 
duties  of  the  second  astern  to  the  flagship.  She 
ran  on  board  the  Victory,  but  the  lightness  of 
the  wind  had  not  prevented  the  Victory  passing 
close  under  the  stem  of  the  Bucentaure  and 
firing  into  us  as  she  passed  several  treble-shotted 
broadsides,  with  eflfects  that  were  murderous  and 
destructive.^  At  that  moment  I  made  the  signal, 
'All  ships  not  engaged  owing  to  their  stations, 
are  to  get  into  action  as  soon  as  possible  I '    It  was 

1  '*  It  was  Lord  Nelson's  intention,"  says  a  letter  from  the  British 
Fleet,  '^  to  have  begun  the  action  by  passing  ahead  of  the  Bucentaure 
(Villeneuve's  ship),  that  the  Victory  might  be  ahead  of  her  and  astern 
of  the  Santissima  Trinidada.  But  the  Bucentaure  shooting  ahead,  his 
lordship  was  obliged  to  go  under  her  stern,  raked  her,  and  luffed  up 

K 


130  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

impossible  for  me  to  see  how  things  were  going  in 
the  centre  and  rear  of  the  fleet  because  of  the 
dense  smoke  which  enveloped  us. 

"  To  the  Victory  succeeded  two  others  of  the 
enemy,  three-deckers,  and  several  seventy-fours. 
These  one  after  the  other  came  up  and  filed  by, 
slowly  past  the  stern  of  the  Bucentaure.  I  had 
just  made  the  signal  to  the  van  to  put  about  when 
the  main  and  mizen  masts  both  came  down.  The 
English  ships  which  had  passed  through  astern 
of  us  were  attacking  us  from  leeward,  but,  un- 
fortunately, without  suffering  any  serious  loss  in 
return  from  our  batteries.  The  greater  part  of  our 
guns  were  already  dismounted  and  others  were 
disabled  or  masked  by  the  fall  of  the  masts  and 
rigging.  Now,  for  one  moment,  the  smoke-fog 
cleared  and  I  saw  that  all  the  centre  and  rear  had 
given  way.  I  found,  also,  that  my  flagship  was 
the  most  to  windward  of  all.  Our  foremast  was 
still  standing,  however.  It  offered  a  means  for 
our  making  sail  to  get  to  leeward  to  join  a  group 
of  ships  at  a  little  distance  which  did  not  seem 
much  damaged:  but  immediately  afterwards  the 
foremast  came  down  like  the  others.  I  had  had 
my  barge  kept  ready,  so  that  in  the  event  of  the 
Bucentaure  being  dismasted,  I  might  be  able  to 

on  her  starboard  side.  The  Bucentaure  fired  four  broadsides  at  the 
Victory  before  his  lordship  ordered  the  ports  to  be  opened,  when  the 
whole  broadside,  which  was  double-shotted,  was  fired  into  her,  and 
the  discharge  made  such  a  tremendous  crash  that  the  Bucentaure  was 
seen  to  heel." 


"I   HAD  TO   YIELD  TO    MY   DESTINY!"       131 

go  on  board  some  other  ship,  and  rehoist  my 
flag  there.  When  the  mainmast  came  down  I 
gave  orders  for  it  to  be  cleared  for  launching, 
but  it  was  found  to  be  unserviceable,  damaged 
irreparably,  either  from  shot  or  crushed  in  the  fall 
of  the  masts.^  Then  I  had  the  Santisima  Trini- 
dad hailed — she  was  just  ahead  of  us — and  asked 
them  either  to  send  a  boat  or  take  us  in  tow. 
But  there  was  no  answer  to  the  hail.  The 
Trinidad  at  that  moment  was  hotly  engaged. 
A  three-decker  was  attacking  her  on  the  quarter 
astern,  and  another  enemy  was  on  the  beam 
to  leeward.  Being  now  without  any  means  of 
repelling  my  antagonists,  the  whole  of  the  upper 
deck  and  the  twenty-four-pounder  batteries  on  the 
main  deck  having  had  to  be  abandoned,  heaped 
up  with  dead  and  wounded,  with  the  ship  isolated 
in  the  midst  of  the  enemy  and  unable  to  move, 
1  had  to  yield  to  my  destiny.  It  remained  only  to 
stop  further  bloodshed.  That,  already  immense, 
could  only  have  been  in  vain.^ 

1  "The  admiral/'  said  Mag-Captain  Prigny,  in  his  official  report  to 
Decres,  "  on  being  told  that  the  boat  he  had  had  prepared  to  take  him 
in  case  of  emergency  to  another  ship,  had  been  crushed  under  the 
wreckage,  complained  bitterly  that  Fate  had  spared  his  life ;  that  amid 
the  slaughter  all  round  there  seemed  not  to  be  one  bullet  for  him." 
Says  a  British  naval  officer  of  the  day  :  "  Villeneuve's  conduct  in  this 
action  .  .  .  has  been  acknowledged  by  all  present  to  have  been 
that  of  a  distinguished  sea  officer  ;  and  the  state  of  the  '  Bucentaure ' 
showed  that  he  had  no  consideration  for  his  own  person."  (Captain 
Brenton  :  "Naval  History,"  vol.  II,  p.  73.) 

^  Captain  Magendie  of  the  "Bucentaure"  states,  in  an  official 
report  to  the  Minister  of  Marine,  that  all  the  men  at  the  upper-deck 
guns  were  either  killed  or  wounded  ;  the  24-pounder  battery  was 


132  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

"All  the  fleet  astern  of  the  Bucentaure  was, 
as  I  have  said,  broken  up.  Many  ships  were  dis- 
masted ;  others  were  still  fighting,  in  retreat  to- 
wards a  body  of  ships  to  the  east.  Some  of 
Rear- Admiral  Dumanoir's  squadron  attempted  to 
rally  on  the  vessels  to  leeward,  while  five  others 
kept  to  windward  and  exchanged  shots  with  the 
enemy  in  passing,  but  only  at  long  range.  The 
rearmost  of  the  five,  I  believe  the  Neptuno,  a 
Spanish  ship,  which  was  a  little  to  leeward  of  the 
others,  had  to  surrender. 

"  From  the  nature  of  the  attack  that  the  enemy 
delivered  there  could  not  help  resulting  a  pele-mele 
battle,  and  the  series  of  ship-to-ship  actions  that 
ensued  were  fought  out  with  the  most  noble  de- 
votion. The  enemy  had  the  advantage  of  us,  owing 
to  his  powerful  ships,  seven  of  which  were  three- 
deckers,  the  smallest  mounting  114  guns  {sic),  in 
weight  of  metal  of  his  heavy  guns  and  carronades ; 
and  in  the  smartness  with  which  his  ships  were 
handled,  due  to  three  years'  experience  at  sea — a 
form  of  training  which,  of  course,  had  been  im- 
possible for  the  Combined  Fleet.  The  courage  and 
the  devotion  to  France  and  the  Emperor,  shown 
by  the  officers  and  men,  could  not  be  surpassed. 
It  had  evinced  itself  on  our  first  putting  to  sea, 

"  entirely  dismounted  and  heaped  up  with  dead  and  wounded."  The 
whole  starboard  side  of  the  ship  on  the  upper  deck  was,  he  said, 
"blocked  with  wreckage  from  aloft  so  that  it  was  impossible  to  fire 
again."  Surrender,  Magendie  said,  was  imperative,  to  avoid  the  use- 
less sacrifice  of  the  survivors.     [Report  to  Decres  5^  Brum.  An  14.] 


"I   OFFER   MYSELF   A  VICTIM!"  I3S 

and  also  in  preparing  for  battle,  by  the  cheers 
and  shouts  of  '  Vive  TEmpereur  1 '  with  which  the 
flagship's  signals  were  received.  I  did  not  see  a 
single  man  blench  at  the  sight  of  the  enemy's  for- 
midable column  of  attack,  headed  by  four  three- 
deckers,  which  came  down  on  the  Bucentaure. 

"  I  have  no  doubt,  Monseigneur,  that  you  have 
already  received  accounts  of  the  instances  of  valour 
and  devotion  that  were  displayed  elsewhere,  from 
other  officers  who  have  found  themselves  in  a 
position  to  forward  them.  So  much  courage  and 
devotion  merited  a  better  fate,  but  the  moment 
has  not  yet  come  for  France  to  celebrate  successes 
on  sea  as  she  has  been  able  to  do  with  regard  to 
her  victories  on  the  Continent.  As  for  myself, 
Monseigneur,  overwhelmed  by  the  extent  of  my 
misfortune  and  the  responsibility  for  so  great  a 
disaster,  I  desire  only,  and  as  soon  as  possible,  to 
offer  at  the  feet  of  His  Majesty  either  the  justifi- 
cation of  my  conduct,  or  a  victim  to  be  sacrificed, 
not  to  the  honour  of  the  flag,  which  I  venture  to 
affirm  has  remained  intact,  but  to  the  shades  of 
those  who  may  have  perished  through  my  impru- 
dence, want  of  caution,  or  forgetfulness  of  certain 
of  my  duties." 


%a 


i/^h^^jk^^^ 


134  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

Admiral  Villeneuve  added  in  a  postscript  that 
he,  with  Captain  Magendie,  Adjutant-Commandant 
Contamine,  a  Heutenant  and  a  midshipman  A.D.C., 
were  the  officers  on  board  the  "  Euryalus."  Captain 
Magendie,  Chef  d'Etat- Major  (Flag  -  Captain) 
Prigny,  and  two  lieutenants  of  the  "  Bucentaure," 
he  added,  were  wounded.  Almost  every  officer  and 
man,  indeed,  on  the  quarter-deck  of  the  "  Bucen- 
taure,"  said  Villeneuve,  had  been  either  killed  or 
wounded. 

It  may  be  noted  that  Admiral  Villeneuve  did 
not  mention  the  fact  that  he  himself  had  been 
wounded.  It  was  not  serious,  but  he  said  nothing 
about  it,  and  it  is  not  noted  in  the  "  Bucentaure's  " 
official  list  of  casualties.  The  flagship's  total 
casualty  list  was  two  hundred  and  nine  of  all  ranks 
and  ratings  hors  de  combat  (a  hundred  and  thirty- 
eight  killed),  a  heavier  loss  than  any  of  the  British 
ships  experienced.^ 

Major-General  de  Contamine,  "  Commandant 
en  Chef  par  interim,"  as  he  describes  himself,  adds 
these  details,  in  the  course  of  his  military  report  to 
Napoleon,  as  to  the  soldiers  on  board  the  fleet : — 

"  It  was  impossible  to  meet  the  Victory  as  she 
came  on  with  our  broadside,  because  the  Santisima 
Trinidad,  which  in  the  light  breeze  would  not 
answer  her  helm,  was  to  leeward  of  us,  almost 

*  For  the  position  of  the  "  Bucentaure  "  at  various  stages  of  the 
battle  up  to  the  moment  of  surrender^  see  Captain  Magendie's  four 
plans  (Appendix  C). 


BEYOND   REACH   OF    RESCUE  135 

touching  us.  Indeed  we  received  several  broadsides 
from  the  enemy  without  power  of  reply. 

"The  Victory,  Temeraire,  and  Neptune,  three- 
deckers,  took  post,  one  on  our  quarter,  and  the 
other  two  astern.  They  fired  into  us  for  nearly 
two  hours  at  half  pistol-shot.  By  3  o'clock  the 
Bucentaure  had  received  the  fire  of  11  English 
ships,  most  of  which  passed  by  and  raked  us  ahead 
and  astern.  The  ship  was  dismasted,  *  ras  comme 
un  ponton,'  and  the  masts  and  sails  fell  over  to 
starboard,  blocking  up  the  batteries  and  rendering 
it  impossible  to  fire  at  a  single  point.  Indeed  it 
was  impossible  to  move.  The  24-pounder  battery 
was  left  without  a  man  at  the  guns ;  only  nine  men 
were  left  on  the  forecastle  and  the  poop.  With 
about  400  killed  and  wounded,  beyond  reach  of 
assistance  or  rescue,  surrounded  by  the  enemy,  the 
admiral  had  to  order  the  flag  to  be  lowered." 

General  De  Contamine  concludes  his  report  with 
these  words :  "  Je  crois  pouvoir  dire  que  le  combat 
du  cap  Trafalgar  doit  etre  regarde  comme  celui  qui 
(abstraction  faite  des  malheurs  purement  acci- 
dentels  qui  en  sont  resultes)  fait  le  plus  d'honneur 
a  la  marine  Fran^aise  et  Espagnole,  et  montre  ce 
que  la  premiere  fera  un  jour."^ 

1  An  interesting  report  of  the  doings  and  fate  of  the  "  Bucentaure/' 
dated  Cadiz,  24th  November,  1806,  by  Lieutenant  de  vaisseau  Fournier 
of  the  ''  Bucentaure "  (an  ancestor  of  the  present  Admiral-in-Chief  of 
the  French  Navy),  is  in  existence  among  the  archives  of  the  Ministry 
of  Marine  in  Paris.    [Vol.  BB^  237,  fol.  12.] 


CHAPTER   X 

FINAL  SCENES  ON  BOARD  THE  "  BUCENTAURE'^ 

AN  officer  on  board  the  "  Bucentaure "  describes 
■^^  how  Admiral  Villeneuve  tried  to  get  away 
and  failed,  and  then  had  to  order  his  flag  to  be 
hauled  down  in  surrender. 

"  By  now  the  upper  decks  and  gangways  of  the 
Bucentaure,  heaped  with  dead  and  the  wreckage 
from  overhead,  presented  an  appalling  spectacle.  All 
this  time,  amid  all  this  scene  of  disaster.  Admiral 
Villeneuve,  who  from  the  first  had  displayed  the 
calmest  courage,  continued  tranquilly  pacing  up 
and  down  the  quarter-deck.  At  length  he  saw  his 
ship  totally  dismasted,  and  no  hope  of  succour 
coming  from  any  quarter.  With  bitter  sorrow  he 
exclaimed,  'The  Bucentaure  has  played  her 
part ;  mine  is  not  yet  over.' "  ['  Le  Bucentaure  a 
rempli  sa  tache;  la  mienne  n'est  pas  encore 
achevee.']  He  gave  orders  for  his  boat  to  be  got 
ready  at  once  to  take  him  with  his  flag  on  board 
one  of  the  ships  of  the  van  squadron.  He  still 
cherished  the  hope  that  he  might  be  able,  with  the 
ten  fresh  ships  of  the  van,  to  make  a  supreme 
effort,  and  even  yet  snatch  victory  from  the  enemy. 

136 


SPARED   IN   THE   MIDST   OF    SLAUGHTER     137 

But  the  unfortunate  admiral's  illusion  did  not 
last  long.  Word  was  soon  brought  him  that  his 
barge,  which  before  the  battle  had  been  got  ready 
against  this  very  possibility,  had  early  in  the  action 
had  several  holes  made  in  it  by  the  enemy's 
shot;  and,  as  a  finale,  had  been  crushed  to 
pieces  under  a  mass  of  fallen  spars  and  rigging. 
Every  single  one  of  the  ship's  other  boats  had 
also  been  destroyed.  On  that  they  hailed  from 
the  Bucentaure  across  to  the  Santisima  Trinidad 
for  them  to  send  a  boat,  but  no  reply  was  made 
and  no  boat  was  sent.  Bitterly  did  Admiral  Ville- 
neuve  realize  his  desperate  position,  and  the  hard 
fate  that  was  in  store  for  him !  He  saw  himself 
imprisoned  on  board  a  ship  that  was  unable  to 
defend  herself,  and  this  too,  while  great  part  of  his 
fleet  was  in  action  and  fighting  hard.  He  cursed 
the  destiny  that  had  spared  him  in  the  midst  of 
all  the  slaughter  round  about.  Compelled  by 
force  of  circumstances  to  think  no  more  about  his 
fleet,  he  had  now  only  to  think  of  the  ship  he  was 
in.  All  he  could  do  now  was  to  see  after  the  lives 
of  the  handful  of  brave  men  left  fighting  with 
him.  Humanity  forbade  him  to  allow  them  to  be 
shot  down  without  means  of  defending  themselves. 
Villeneuve  looked  away  and  allowed  the  captain 
of  the  Bucentaure  to  lower  the  colours." 

No  attempt  was  made  by  the  "  Bucentaure's " 
"repeating  frigate,"  whose  duty  it  was  to  assist 
the  flagship  in  case  of  need,  to  go  to  the  rescue 


138  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

of  her  chief  and  at  least  attempt  to  take  the 
"Bucentaure"  in  tow.  "Now  it  was  for  one  or 
other  of  the  French  frigates  to  have  risked  the 
perils  of  the  battle  and  stood  in  to  carry  a  tow 
rope  to  the  Bucentaure,  in  pursuance  of  the 
honourable  duty  that  the  admiral  expected  of 
his  frigates.  In  particular  was  this  the  duty  of 
the  captain  of  the  frigate  Hortense,  the  flag- 
ship's own  '  repeating  frigate.'  It  is  hard  to  think 
that  the  captain  of  the  Hortense — although  he 
had  already  shown  an  excessive  prudence — had 
not  the  courage  to  attempt  the  rehef  of  his  ad- 
miral :  one  must  look  for  some  other  motive.  The 
Hortense,  with  the  other  frigates,  had  committed 
the  blunder  of  posting  themselves  too  far  off  from 
the  fighting  line,  and  it  may  have  been  that  seeing 
it  was  practically  impossible,  in  the  very  light 
breeze,  for  the  Hortense  to  get  up  with  the 
admiral,  the  captain  of  the  Hortense  did  not 
attempt  to  do  so.  Impossible,  however,  if  the 
task  was,  the  captain  of  the  Hortense  should 
at  least  have  tried." 

So  one  of  the  officers  on  board  the  "Bucentaure" 
said.  On  the  other  hand,  the  frigates  were  away  to 
leeward,  and  all  the  smoke  from  the  firing  line 
rolled  heavily  down  on  them,  blotting  out  all  view 
of  the  battle.  "  A  une  heure,"  reported  Captain 
Jugan,  of  the  "  Hermione,"  "le  combat  ^tant  devenu 
g^n^ral,  j'ai  perdu  de  vue  dans  la  fum^e  tout  ce 
qui  s'y  est  pass^."    And,  as  he  adds,  he  never  got 


WHAT   A   BRITISH    MIDSHIPMAN   SAW  139 

another  clear  view  of  the  battle  to  the  end ;  only 
an  occasional  glimpse  in  a  rift  in  the  smoke  of 
one  or  two  ships  here  and  there. 

The  French  flagship  hauled  down  her  colours 
to  a  British  74,  named,  by  something  of  a  coin- 
cidence, the  "  Conqueror."  According  to  an  ac- 
count from  that  ship,  the  "  Bucentaure  "  had  then 
her  masts  standing.  A  young  officer  of  that 
ship.  Midshipman  William  Hicks,  describing  in 
a  letter  home  the  incidents  of  the  closing  scene, 
as  witnessed  from  the  "  Conqueror's  "  quarter-deck, 
adds  these  details.  He  was  one  of  Captain  Pellew's 
aides-de-camp,  and  presumably  in  an  excellent 
position  to  observe  what  passed.  "We  engaged 
her  single-handed  for  an  hour,  and  she  struck  to  us ; 
after  her  colours  were  hauled  down  two  guns  from 
her  starboard  quarter  began  to  play  on  us.  Sir 
Israel  Pellew,  thinking  that  they  were  disposed  to 
renew  the  fight,  ordered  the  guns  which  could  bear 
on  her  foremast  to  knock  it  away,  and  her  masts 
were  cut  away  successfully  in  a  few  minutes.  The 
officers  of  the  French  ship  waving  their  handker- 
chiefs in  sign  of  surrender,  we  sent  a  cutter  and 
took  possession  of  the  Bucentaure.  Then  we 
moved  on." 

The  "  Conqueror's  "  log  records  the  surrender  in 
these  words :  "At  2,  shot  away  the  Bucentaure's 
main  and  mizen  masts.  .  .  .  Shot  away  the  Bucen- 
taure's foremast.  At  2.5,  the  Bucentaure  struck. 
Sent  a  boat  on  board  her  to  take  possession." 


140  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

An  officer  of  the  "Britannia"  (Second  Lieutenant 
L.  B.  Halloran,  Royal  Marines)  also  claims  for 
his  ship  the  credit  of  having  made  the  "  Bucen- 
taure  "  surrender.  "  In  passing  we  poured  a  most 
destructive  fire  (the  guns  being  double-shotted) 
into  the  Bucentaur,  which  ship  had  already  re- 
ceived the  first  fire  of  the  Victory  and  Nep- 
tune. Her  masts  were  at  once  swept  away,  and 
her  galleries  and  stern  broken  to  pieces;  her  colours 
being  shot  away,  someone  waved  a  white  handker- 
chief from  the  remains  of  the  larboard  gallery  in 
token  of  surrender." 

The  "  Conqueror's  "  right  to  the  honour  of  the 
capture  is,  however,  beyond  dispute,  and  her 
cutter  was  sent  off  to  take  possession  of  the  prize, 
and  did  so.  The  officer  deputed  by  Captain  Pellew 
to  receive  the  surrender,  carried  out  his  in- 
structions in  circumstances  that  proved  intensely 
dramatic. 

At  the  moment  of  the  "  Bucentaure's  "  submis- 
sion. Captain  Pellew,  as  it  happened,  was  unable 
to  spare  Lieutenant  Couch,  his  first  lieutenant, 
to  whom,  in  ordinary  circumstances,  the  duty  of 
boarding  the  prize  would  have  fallen.  Being  un- 
aware, owing  to  the  absence  of  Villeneuve's  flag 
from  the  "Bucentaure's"  masthead,  that  the 
enemy's  Commander-in-Chief  had  surrendered  to 
him,  he  told  off  Captain  James  Atcherley,  of  the 
"Conqueror's"  marines,  to  go  in  the  first  lieu- 
tenant's place  and  take  possession  of  the  vessel, 
whose  name  also,  it  would   seem,  they  did  not 


VILLENEUVE   PRESENTS   HIS   SWORD  141 

know.  Captain  Atcherley  went  off  with  two  sea- 
men and  a  corporal  and  two  marines.  He  was 
pulled  alongside  and  clambered  on  board  the  big 
two-decker,  little  dreaming  whom  he  was  going  to 
meet,  and  the  reception  in  store  for  him.  This  is 
what  then  took  place. 

As  Atcherley  gained  the  *'  Bucentaure's  "  upper 
deck  and  the  British  officer's  red  coat  showed 
itself  on  the  quarter-deck  of  the  French  flagship, 
four  French  officers  of  rank  stepped  forward,  all 
bowing  and  presenting  their  swords.  One  was  a 
tall,  thin  man  of  about  forty-two,  in  a  French 
admiral's  full  dress.  It  was  Villeneuve  himself  The 
second  was  a  French  captain — Captain  Magendie, 
in  command  of  the  "  Bucentaure."  The  third 
was  Flag-Captain  Prigny,  Villeneuve's  right- 
hand  man.  The  fourth  was  a  soldier,  in  the 
brilliant  uniform — somewhat  begrimed  by  powder- 
smoke — of  a  brigadier  of  the  Grand  Army, 
General  de  Contamine,  the  officer  in  charge  of  the 
four  thousand  troops  serving  on  board  the  French 
Fleet  that  day. 

"  To  whom,"  asked  Admiral  Villeneuve,  in  good 
English,  "  have  I  the  honour  of  surrendering  ? " 

"  To  Captain  Pellew  of  the  Conqueror." 

"  I  am  glad  to  have  struck  to  the  fortunate  Sir 
Edward  Pellew." 

"  It  is  his  brother,  sir,"  said  Captain  Atcherley. 

**  His  brother  !  What !  are  there  two  of  them  ? 
HelasI" 


142  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

"  Fortune  de  la  guerre,"  said  Captain  Magendie 
with  a  shrug  of  his  wide  shoulders  as  he  became  a 
prisoner  of  war  to  the  British  Navy  for  the  third 
time  in  his  life.  Prigny  and  de  Contamine  said 
nothing,  as  far  as  we  know. 

Captain  Atcherley  politely  suggested  that  the 
swords  of  such  high  officers  had  better  be  handed 
to  an  officer  of  superior  rank  to  himself — to  Captain 
Pellew.  He  then  went  below  to  secure  the  maga- 
zines, passing  between  decks  amid  an  awful  scene 
of  carnage  and  destruction.  "  The  dead,  thrown 
back  as  they  fell,  lay  along  the  middle  of  the  decks 
in  heaps,  and  the  shot,  passing  through  these,  had 
frightfully  mangled  the  bodies.  .  .  .  More  than 
four  hundred  had  been  killed  and  wounded,  of 
whom  an  extraordinary  proportion  had  lost  their 
heads.  A  raking  shot,  which  entered  in  the  lower 
deck,  had  glanced  along  the  beams  and  through  the 
thickest  of  the  people,  and  a  French  officer  declared 
that  this  shot  alone  had  killed  or  disabled  nearly 
forty  men." 

Atcherley  locked  up  the  magazines  and  put  the 
keys  in  his  pocket,  posted  his  two  marines  as 
sentries  at  the  doors  of  the  admiral's  and  flag- 
captain's  cabins,  and  then,  returning  on  deck,  he 
conducted  Villeneuve,  Magendie,  and  Flag-Captain 
Prigny  down  the  side  into  his  little  boat,  which 
rowed  off  in  search  of  the  "  Conqueror."  That 
ship,  however,  had  ranged  ahead  to  engage  another 
enemy,  and  as  her  whereabouts  could  not  be  dis- 


COLLINGWOOD'S  IMPRESSION  OF  VILLENEUVE    143 

covered  in  the  smoke,  the  prisoners  were  tem- 
porarily placed  on  board  the  nearest  British  ship, 
which  happened  to  be  the  "  Mars."  There  Admiral 
Villeneuve's  sword  was  received  by  Lieutenant 
Hennah,  the  senior  surviving  officer  of  the  ship 
(the  gallant  captain  of  the  "  Mars,"  George  DufF, 
had  fallen  a  short  time  before),  who  sent  it  after 
the  battle  to  Collingwood. 


THE  TRAFALGAR  TROPHY  SWORDS 

The  uppermost  sword  is  that  of  Vice- Admiral  Villeneuve.  That  in  the  centre  is 
the  sword  of  Rear- Admiral  Cisneros  of  the  "  Santisima  Trinidad."  The  third  sword  is 
that  delivered  personally  to  Collingwood  by  Don  Francisco  Riquelme  of  the  "  Sapta 
Ana"  on  behalf  of  Vice- Admiral  Alava.  Admiral  Villeneuve's  sword  is  now  on  view 
at  the  Royal  United  Service  Institution  Museum  in  Whitehall,  to  which  it  has  been 
loaned  by  its  present  possessor,  together  with  the  sword  of  Rear- Admiral  Cisneros. 
The  two  swords  were  in  the  possession  of  the  Collingwood  family  down  to  July,  1899, 
when  they  came  under  the  hammer  at  Christie's,  together  with  the  sword  of  the 
Spanish  officer  who  notified  the  surrender  of  the  "  Santa  Ana." 

Collingwood  met  Villeneuve  three  days  after  the 
battle,  when  the  storm  had  moderated  sufficiently 
to  permit  of  his  being  transhipped  to  the  sur- 
viving British  Commander-in-Chief's  temporary 
flagship,  the  frigate  **Euryalus."  This  is  what 
Collingwood  thought  of  him  and  wrote  home: 
"Admiral  Villeneuve  is  a  well-bred  man,  and  I 
believe  a  very  good  officer :  he  has  nothing  in  his 
manner  of  the  offensive  vapouring  and  boasting 
which  we,  perhaps  too  often,  attribute  to  French- 
men." 


144  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

Says  Hercules  Robinson  of  the  "  Euryalus  " : — 
"How  well  I  remember  our  receiving  Villeneuve 
on  board  the  Euryalus,  and  the  Captain  of  the 
Fleet,  Majendie,  to  convey  them  to  England. 
Villeneuve  was  a  thinnish,  tall  man,  a  very  tran- 
quil, placid,  English-looking  Frenchman ;  he  wore 
a  long-tailed  uniform  coat,  high  and  flat  collar, 
corduroy  pantaloons  of  a  greenish  colour,  with 
stripes  two  inches  wide,  half-boots  with  sharp  toes, 
and  a  watch-chain  with  long  gold  links.  Majendie 
was  a  short  fat  jocular  sailor,  who  found  a  cure  for 
all  ills  in  the  Frenchman's  philosophy, '  Fortune  de 
guerre'  (though  this  was  the  third  time  the  god- 
dess had  brought  him  to  England  as  prisoner)." 

Captain  Magendie  was  exchanged  in  the  follow- 
ing January.  He  returned  to  France  with  a  warm 
recommendation  from  Villeneuve  to  Decr^s,  in 


^^ 


SIGNATURE   OF  CAPTAIN   MAGENDIE 


regard  to  his  "  intelligence  and  capacity."  He  was 
appointed  A.D.C.  to  the  Minister  of  Marine,  and 
held  the  post  until  the  fall  of  the  Empire.  Two 
reports  on  Trafalgar  by  Magendie  are  now  among 
the  archives  of  the  Ministry  of  Marine  in  Paris ; 
also  two  plans  of  the  battle  prepared  by  him  for 
Decr^s.  [See  Appendix  C] 


CHAPTER  XI 

HOW  THE   "REDOUTABLE"  FOUGHT  TO 
A  FINISH 

NO  more  brilliant  defence,  no  nobler  fight  in 
battle,  perhaps,  was  ever  made  by  the  French, 
on  sea  or  land,  than  that  by  the  "  Redoutable  "  at 
Trafalgar.  One  "  crack  "  regiment  of  the  Line  in 
the  French  Army  of  to-day  commemorates  the 
bravest  deed  in  its  annals  by  the  legend  on 
its  colours:  "Rosny,  1814: — Un  contre  Huitl" 
Another,  similarly,  recalls  the  finest  feat  of  arms 
in  its  history,  by  the  legend  :  "  Un  contre  Dix : — 
Gratz,  1809  1 "  But  the  feat  achieved  in  either  of 
these  cases  can  hardly  compare  with  the  deter- 
mined and  enduring  valour  of  the  stand  that  the 
two-decker  "Redoutable"  made  at  Trafalgar, 
single-handed,  against  the  two  British  three- 
deckers  "Victory"  and  "Tdmeraire."  "Le  Re- 
doutable," to  use  the  words  of  a  distinguished 
Frenchman,  "ne  setait  rendu  qu'apres  le  combat 
peut  etre  le  plus  sanglant  et  le  plus  opiniatre  de 
tous  ceux  qui  ont  honore  le  valeur  des  Fran^ais." 

Also,  the  personal  heroism  displayed  by  Captain 
Lucas,     the    captain    of   the    ship,    deserves    to 

L  145 


146  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

rank  with  the  classic  instances  of  the  gallantry 
of  D'Assas,  captain  in  the  famous  regiment 
"  d'Auvergne,"  of  the  army  of  the  old  regime, 
whose  magnificent  act  of  self-sacrifice  on  the 
battlefield,  the  modern  French  cruiser  "  D'Assas  " 
exists  to  recall  to-day ;  or  the  grand  display  of  the 
"First  Grenadier  of  France, — dead  on  the  field 
of  honour " ;  with  even  the  dauntlessness  of  the 
"  bravest  of  the  brave,"  Marshal  Ney  himself. 

The  chances  of  the  day  at  Trafalgar,  in  one 
sense,  no  doubt,  favoured  the  "Redoutable."  Com- 
paratively small  ship  as  she  was, — a  74  of  the 
smallest  class  in  the  French  Navy, — she  was 
one  of  the  most  efficiently  officered  and  manned 
vessels  of  all  under  Admiral  Villeneuve's  orders. 
Also,  as  things  iturned  out,  her  crew  for  months 
past  had  been  trained  by  their  captain  with  unre- 
mitting care  for  exactly  the  kind  of  fighting  that 
fell  to  their  lot  at  Trafalgar.  So  Captain  Lucas 
himself  has  left  on  record : — 

"After  the  Redoutable  was  commissioned,"  he 
described  to  Admiral  Decres,  "nothing  was  omitted 
on  board  to  instruct  the  ship's  company  in  every 
kind  of  exercise.  My  thoughts  ever  turned  on 
boarding  my  enemy  in  any  action  I  fought,  and 
I  so  counted  on  finding  my  opportunity  that  I 
made  that  form  of  attack  part  of  our  daily  ex- 
ercises, so  as  to  ensure  success  when  the  hour 
arrived.     I  had   canvas   cartridge-cases   made  for 


HAND   GRENADES   AND   BAYONETS  147 

each  of  the  captains  of  the  guns,  to  hold  two 
grenades  apiece;  with,  attached  to  the  shoulder- 
belts  of  the  cartridge-cases  in  each  case,  a  tube  of 
tin  holding  a  piece  of  quick-match.  At  all  our 
drills  on  board  ship  I  practised  the  men  at  flinging 
dummy  hand-grenades  made  of  pasteboard,  to 
ensure  rapidity  and  expertness,  and  while  at  Toulon 
also  I  often  landed  parties  to  practise  with  iron 
grenades.  By  that  means,  in  the  end,  they  had  so 
acquired  the  art  of  flinging  the  grenades  that  on 
the  day  of  battle  my  topmen  were  able  to  fling 
two  grenades  at  a  time.  I  had  a  hundred  muskets, 
fitted  with  long  bayonets,  sent  on  board  also. 
The  picked  men  to  whom  these  were  served  out 
were  specially  trained  at  musketry  and  stationed 
in  the  shrouds.  All  the  men  with  cutlasses  and 
pistols  were  regularly  trained  af  sword  exercise, 
and  the  pistol  became  with  them  a  very  familiar 
weapon.  My  men  also  learnt  to  throw  grappling 
irons  with  such  skill  that  we  could  count  on  being 
able  to  grapple  an  enemy's  ship  before  her  sides 
had  actually  touched  ours.  On  the  drums  beating 
branle-bas  de  combat  before  Trafalgar,  every  man 
went  to  his  post  fully  accoutred,  and  with  his 
weapon  loaded,  and  they  placed  them  at  hand  by 
their  guns,  in  racks  between  the  gun  ports.  My 
ship's  company,  indeed,  had  themselves  learned  to 
have  such  confidence  in  the  mode  of  fighting  that 
I  proposed  for  the  Redoutable  that  they,  several 
times  before  the  battle,  asked  me,  of  their  own 


148  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

accord,  to  lay  the  ship  alongside  of  the  first  enemy 
we  met." 

STATEMENT  BY  THE  SURVIVING  OFFICERS  OF 
THE  SHIP 

Two  official  statements  detailing  what  passed  on 
board  the  "  Redoutable  "  at  Trafalgar  are  extant 
among  the  archives  of  the  Ministry  of  Marine  in 
Paris.  The  earlier  one  was  drawn  up  immediately 
after  the  surrender  of  the  ship,  while  Captain 
Lucas  and  his  surviving  officers  were  prisoners  on 
board  the  British  "  Swiftsure,"  and  still  off  Cadiz. 
It  is  entitled :  "  Proces  verbal  de  la  perte  du 
vaisseau  de  S.  M.  I.  et  R.  Le  Redoutable,  Com- 
mande  par  M.  Lucas,  Capitaine  de  Vaisseau, 
Officier  de  la  Legion  d'Honneur. 

"This  day,  V''  de  Brumaire,  An  XIV  (the 
23rd  of  October),  we,  the  undersigned,  E.  Lucas, 
Captain  and   Officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honour, 

The  following  is  a  transcript  of  the  original  first- 
draft  of  the  Proces  Verbal,  as  committed  to  paper 
and  signed  on  board  the  "  Swiftsure."  The  original 
document  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Mme. 
Merienne  Lucas  Jobard,  of  Passy.  A  copy  of  it, 
made  by  M.  Destrem,  the  Conservateur,  was 
recently  presented  to  the  Musde  de  la  Marine  at 
the  Louvre,  on  the  walls  of  which  it  is  now  ex- 
hibited. There  is  also  the  fair-written  document, 
actually  presented  to  Decr^s,  that  is  in  the  archives 
of  the  Ministry  of  Marine. 

"Proces  verbal  de  la  perte  du  V.  de  S.  M.  I.  &  R.  le 
Redoutable,  commande  par  M.  Lucas,  cap®  de  V.  officier  de 
la  Leg.  d'honneur. 


REASONS    AND    CIRCUMSTANCES  149 

having  the  command  of  His  Majesty's  ship  Le 
Redoutable,  together  with  the  officers  of  the  Etat 
Major  (commissioned  officers),  imder-officers,  etc., 
finding  ourselves  brought  together  on  board  the 
English  ship  Swiftsure,  and  having  survived  the 
loss  of  our  own  ship,  have  drawn  up  the  following 
report,  containing  the  reasons  and  circumstances 
which  occasioned  the  loss  of  the  Redoutable. 

"On  the  21st  of  October  (29th  Vendemiaire), 
at  half- past  eleven,  the  Combined  Fleet  found 
itself  to  windward  of  the  enemy,  forming  in  line 
of  battle.  The  Redoutable,  according  to  the 
order  of  seniority,  was  third  ship  astern  of  the 
admiral's  flagship,  the  Bucentaure.  The  two 
intermediate  ships,  in  the  course  of  an  evolution, 
owing  to    want   of   wind,   were    out   of   station 

"  Aujourd'hui  1®""  brumaire  an  14,  Nous,  Cap®  de  V.  off. 
de  la  Legion  d'honneur,  command*  le  V.  S.  M.  I.  R.  le 
Redoutable,  officiers  composant  Tetat  major,  aspiran,ts  et 
premiers  maitres,  qui  avons  survecu  a  la  perte  du  dit  V.  nous 
trouvant  reunis  a  bord  du  V.  anglais  le  Swift-Sure,  avons 
dresse  le  present  proces  verbal,  pour  constater  les  causes  et 
circonstances  qui  ont  occasionne  la  perte  du  V.  qui  nous 
etait  confie. 

"Le  29  Vendemiaire,  an  14,  a  11^ J  du  matin,  Tarmee 
combinee  se  trouvant  sous  le  vent  de  Tennemi,  cherchait  k  se 
former  en  bataille,  les  amures  k  babord ;  le  vent  etait  faible : 
cependant  les  vaisseaux  pouvaient  manoeuvrer  et  gouvemaient 
bien.  Le  Redoutable,  d'apres  Tordre  signale,  devait  se 
trouver  le  3™®  V.  dans  les  eaux  du  V.  amiral  le  Bucentaure ; 
mais  les  2  V.  qui  nous  precedaient  ayant  arrive  sous  le  vent 
et  la  ligne  qui  commen9ait  a  se  former,  laissaient  par  cette 


150  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

and  left  the  admiral's  ship  exposed  just  at  the 
moment  when  the  enemy  had  made  his  disposi- 
tions for  attacking  our  centre.  The  Victory, 
of  110  guns,  under  Admiral  Nelson,  and  the 
Tdmeraire,  of  the  same  rate,  were  at  the  head  of 
the  division  which  bore  down  upon  the  admiral's 
ship  to  cut  it  off  and  surround  it.  Captain  Lucas, 
soon  perceiving  the  enemy's  design,  immediately 
took  measures  to  take  post  close  up  in  wake  of 
the  Bucentaure,  in  which  he  happily  succeeded. 
Although  the  flag-captain  from  on  board  that 
ship  hailed  us  several  times  to  shorten  sail,  we 
kept  close  astern.  We  had  all  unanimously  deter- 
mined rather  to  lose  our  own  ship  than  witness  the 
capture  of  our  admiral. 

"At  a  quarter  before  twelve  firing  opened  on 

manoeuvre  le  V.  amiral  entierement  k  decouvert,  a  Tinstant 
surtout  ou  Tun  des  deux  pelotons  sur  lesquels  etait  formee 
rarmee  ennemie  manoeuvrait  ostensiblement  pour  attaquer 
notre  corps  de  bataille.  Les  vaisseaux  Le  Victory  de  110 
canons,  monte  par  Tamiral  Nelson,  et  le  Temeraire,  aussi  de 
110  canons,  qui  precedaient  le  dit  peloton,  gouvemaient 
sur  le  V.  amiral  qui  etait  en  panne,  pour  Tenvelopper ;  Tun 
d'eux  cherchait  k  lui  passer  a  poupe :  le  Cap.  Lucas  ayant 
juge  rintention  de  I'ennemi  manceuvra  sur  le  champ  pour 
mettre  le  beaupre  du  Redoutable  sur  la  poupe  du  Bucentaure. 
Nous  y  parvinmes  tellement  que  le  commandant  de  ce 
vaisseau  nous  helld'''*  [sic]  "plusieurs  fois  que  nous  allions 
Taborder.  Nous  ^tions  tous  decides  k  nous  ensevelir  sous 
les  debris  de  notre  V.  plutot  que  de  laisser  enlever  celui  de 
Pamiral. 

"  A  ll^f  les  vaisseaux  des  deux  armees,  qui  se  sont  trouves 


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THE    "BUCENTAURE"    AND    "  REDOUTABLE  "    FIRING    ON    THE    "VICTORY" 
AT   THE   OPENING   OF   THE    BATTLE 

[Collingwood  is  shown  in  the  centre  of  the  picture  (in  the  background)  making  his  attack] 


THF.    "  RFDOU  1  AHI.i:  •■    (IRAI'l'LED    BY  THE    "VICTORY":   JUST    HFFORF    THE 
•*TEMERAIRE"    CLOSED   ALONGSIDE 


THF    "  RFDGUTAIJLI 


HE    EVENING    BEFORE    SHE    WENT    DOWN 


(The  original  drawings  here  shown  were  made  by  an  officer  of  the  "Redoutable"  for 
Captain  Lucas.  They  are  now  in  possession  of  Captain  Lucas's  granddaughter,  who 
allowed  copies  to  be  made  for  the  Ahisee  de  la  Marine  at  the  Louvre,  whence  these 
are  reproduced] 

To  face  p.   153 


ALL   READY   TO   BOARD  151 

both  sides  between  the  ships  that  were  within  gun- 
shot. The  enemy's  two  three-deckers  directed  all 
their  efforts  to  forcing  in  our  line  in  wake  of  the 
Bucentaure,  and  to  drive  the  Redoutable  foul 
of  her,  so  as  to  make  our  admiral's  ship  cease 
firing.  They  were,  however,  unable  to  move  us. 
We  determined  to  range  ourselves  alongside  the 
enemy's  admiral,  and  in  that  situation  we  gave  and 
received  a  number  of  broadsides.  The  enemy, 
however,  could  not  prevent  us  from  lashing  our- 
selves fast  to  the  Victory.  Our  captain  then 
gave  orders  to  board,  whereupon  our  brave  crew, 
with  their  officers  at  their  head,  instantly  made 
ready  for  the  onset.  The  conflict  was  begun  with 
small  arms,  and  upwards  of  two  hundred  hand 
grenades    were    flung    on    board    the    Victory. 

k  portee  ont  commences  le  feu ;  les  deux  V.  ennemis,  a  3  ponts, 
persistant  audacieusement  de  passer  a  poupe  du  Bucentaure 
mena^aient  d"'aborder  le  Redoutable  pour  le  forcer  d'arriver 
et  faciliter  leur  passage  ;  mais  n''ayant  pas  reussir  a  nous  faire 
ployer,  Tamiral  Nelson  nous  a  abordes  par  babord  et  nous 
nous  sommes  reciproquement  tire  plusieurs  bordees  a  bout 
touchant;  le  carnage  qui  en  est  resulte  ne  nous  a  point 
empeches  de  lancer  nos  grappins  a  bord  du  Victory,  et  le 
commandant  a,  sur  le  champ,  ordonne  Tabordage.  Aussitot 
les  braves  composant  Tequipage,  avec  une  intrepidite  au 
dessus  de  tout  eloge,  conduits  par  leurs  officiers,  se  sont 
precipites  sur  les  bastinguages  et  dans  les  haubans  pour 
sauter  k  bord  de  Tennemi.  Alors  s''est  engage  un  combat  de 
mousqueterie.  Plus  de  200  grenades  ont  ete  jetteis"  [sic] 
"  a  bord  du  Victory :  I'amiral  Nelson  combattait  a  la  tete  de 
son  equipage.     Notre  feu  etait   tellement  superieur   qu'en 


152  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

Admiral  Nelson  fought  at  the  head  of  his  crew 
(lamiral  Nelson  combattait  a  la  tete  de  son 
equipage),  but  still,  as  our  fire  was  much  more 
vigorous  than  that  of  the  English,  we  silenced 
them  in  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  The  deck  of 
the  Victory  was  strewn  with  dead,  and  Admiral 
Nelson  was  killed  by  a  musket  shot  (I'amiral 
Nelson  fut  tue  d'un  coup  de  fusil).  It  proved, 
however,  unexpectedly  difficult  to  board  the 
Victory;  her  upper  deck  stood  so  much  higher 
than  that  of  the  Redoutable.  Ensign  Yon,  how- 
ever, and  four  seamen,  climbing  up  by  an  anchor, 
succeeded.  They  would  have  been  followed  by 
the  rest  of  their  brave  comrades,  but,  at  that 
moment,  the  English  ship  Tem^raire,  perceiving 
that  the  fire  of  her  admiral's  flagship  had  ceased, 
and  that  she  must  inevitably  be  taken  (Le  Tem^- 
raire  qui  s'etait  aper^u  sans  doute  que  I'amiral 
anglais  ne  combattait  pas  et  allait  infailliblement 
§tre  pris),  immediately  fell  upon  us  on  our  star- 

moins  d'un  quart  d'heure  nous  faire  taire  celui  de  Tennemi : 
ses  gaillards  etaient  jonches  de  morts  et  Pamiral  Nelson  tue 
d'un  coup  de  fusil.  II  etait  difficile  de  passer  a  bord  du 
Victory  k  cause  de  la  superiorite  de  Felevation  de  sa  3® 
batterie :  Taspirant  Yon  et  le  matelots  y  parvinrent  par 
le  moyen  d'une  de  les  ancres,  mais  k  I'instant  ou  ils  allaient 
etre  suivis  par  tous  nos  braves  qui  couvraient  les  bastinguages 
et  les  haubans  de  babord,  le  V.  ^  3  ponts  le  T^meraire,  qui 
s'etait  aper^u  sans  doute  que  Tamiral  anglais  ne  combattait 
plus  et  allait  infailliblement  etre  pris,  est  venu  nous  aborder 
par  tribord,  et  nous  cribler,  a  bout  touchant,  du  feu  de  toute 


WHY  THEY   SURRENDERED  153 

board  side,  after  first  raking  us  with  a  heavy  fire. 
The  slaughter  that  ensued  is  indescribable.  More 
than  two  hundred  of  our  men  were  killed.  The 
captain  now  ordered  the  remainder  to  go  below 
and  fire  at  the  Temeraire  with  what  guns  were  not 
disabled.  Immediately  after  that  there  came  up 
astern  another  of  the  enemy's  ships,  within  pistol- 
shot  of  us ;  in  which  station  she  remained  till  we 
had  to  strike  our  colours. 

"  That  calamity  took  place  about  half-past  two 
p.m.,  for  the  following  reasons  : — 

"  1.  Because,  out  of  a  crew  consisting  of  six 
hundred  and  forty-three  men,  five  hundred  and 
twenty-two  were  no  longer  in  a  situation  to  con- 
tinue the  fight.  Three  hundred  had  been  killed, 
and  two  hundred  and  twenty-two  were  badly 
wounded.  Among  the  latter  were  the  whole  of 
the  Etat  Major  and  ten  junior  officers. 

son  artillerie :  rien  ne  peut  exprimer  le  carnage  qui  en  est 
resulte ;  plus  de  200  hommes  furent  mis  hors  de  combat ;  le 
commandant  alors  ordonna  au  reste  de  Pequipage  de  se  porter 
dans  les  batteries  et  de  decharger  sur  le  Temeraire  les  canons 
de  tribord  qui  n'avaient  pas  ete  demontes  par  Tabordage  de 
seV. 

"  Au  meme  instant  un  autre  V.  ennemi,  s'etant  place  par 
notre  poupe  a  portee  de  pistolet  nous  a  canonnes  jusqu'a  ce 
que  le  pavilion  ait  ete  amene  (evenement  qui  a  en  lieu  a 
2^' J  apres  midi),  d'*apres  Pa  vis  des  soussignes  et  les  considera- 
tions suivantes : — 

"1°  que  sur  643  h.  d'equipage  522,  etaient  hors  de  combat, 
dont  300  tues  et  222  grievement  blesses,  du  nombre  desquels 
se  trouvait  en  totalite  Petat  major  et  dix  aspirants  sur  12. 


154  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

"  2.  Because  the  ship  was  dismasted :  the  main 
and  mizen  masts  had  gone  by  the  board  (demates 
au  raz  du  pont).  The  former  fell  on  the  Tem^r- 
aire,  and  the  yards  of  that  ship  fell  on  board  the 
Redoutable. 

"  3.  Because  the  tiller  and  helm  and  rudder  gear 
and  the  stern-post  itself  had  been  entirely  destroyed. 

"  4.  Because  nearly  all  our  guns  were  dismounted 
(la  presque  totalite  de  lartillerie  etait  entierement 
demontee)  partly  in  our  coming  into  colUsion 
with  two  three-deckers,  partly  by  their  shot,  and 
several  of  the  guns  dismounted,  and  in  consequence 
of  the  bursting  of  an  eighteen-pounder  gun  on  the 
lower  deck,  and  a  thirty-six-pounder  carronade  on 
the  forecastle. 

"  5.  Because  the  poop  had  been  entirely  smashed 
in  (la  poupe  etait  entierement  crevee)  and  the 
counter  timbers  and  deck  beams  shattered  and 
wrecked  so  that  the  whole  of  the  after  part  of  the 

"  2°  que  le  V.  etait  demate  au  ras  du  pont  de  son  g'^mat 
et  de  celui  d'artimon  ;  le  1®"^  etait  tombe  k  bord  du  Temeraire, 
et  les  deux  mats  d'hune  de  ce  V.  etaient  tombe  a  bord  du 
Redoutable. 

"  3°  que  la  tamisaille,  la  barre  la  meche  du  gouvernail  et 
meme  Tetambot  etaient  entierement  coupes. 

"  4°  que  la  presque  totalite  de  Tartillerie  etait  demontee  : 
une  partie  par  les  abordages  des  deux  V.  ^  3  ponts,  une  autre 
par  les  boulets  de  I'ennemi ;  enfin  parce  qu'un  canon  de  18 
de  la  2®  batterie  et  une  caronade  de  36  du  gaillard  d'avant 
avaient  crevd 

"  5°  que  la  poupe  dtait  entierement  crev^,  que  les  barres 
d'arquasse  et  d'hourdi,  les  jambettes  de  voute  etaient  telle- 


HELPLESS  AND   HOPELESS  155 

ship  formed  practically  a  gaping  cavity  (tellement 
hachees  que  toute  partie  ne  formait  qu'un  large 
sabord). 

"6.  Because  almost  all  the  port  lids  had  been 
smashed  and  the  ports  destroyed  by  the  fire  of 
the  Victory  and  Temdraire. 

"7.  Because  both  sides  of  the  ship  and  the 
decks  were  shot  through  and  riddled  in  such  a 
manner  that  numbers  of  the  wounded  below  on 
the  orlop,  and  as  they  lay  in  the  cockpit,  were 
being  killed  helplessly. 

"  8.  Because  the  ship  was  on  fire  astern. 

"9.  Because,  finally,  the  ship  was  leaking  in 
many  places,  and  had  several  feet  of  water  in  the 
hold,  and  nearly  all  the  pumps  had  been  destroyed 
by  shot.  We  had  cause  to  fear  that  she  might  go 
down  under  our  feet. 

"Throughout    the    whole   of   the    battle,    the 

ment  hachees  que  toute  cette  partie  ne  formait  qu'un  large 
sabord. 

"6°  que  tous  nos  mantelets  de  sabord  avaient  ete  brises 
par  nos  abordages,  et  que  tous  nos  ponts  etaient  perces  par  les 
boulets  des  3*"®  batteries  des  deux  V.  Victory  et  Temeraire. 

"  7°  que  les  deux  cotes  du  V.  etaient  entierement  percds  k 
jour  et  que  les  boulets  qui  penetraient  dans  notre  faux  po^it 
nous  avaient  deja  tue  plusieurs  de  nos  blesses. 

"  8°  parce  que  le  feu  avait  deja  pris  dans  la  braye  de  notre 
gouvemail. 

"  9°  Enfin,  parce  que  le  V.  avait  plusieurs  voies  d'eau,  que 
presque  toutes  les  pompes  etaient  brisees  et  que  nous  avions 
acquis  la  certitude  que  le  V.  ne  tarderait  pas  k  couler  au  fond. 

"  Dans  ce  combat  les  V :  le  Victory  et  le  Temeraire  ont 
constammant  combattu  le  V.  le  Redoutable  et  nous  ne  nous 


156  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

Victory  and  Temeraire  never  ceased  their  attacks 
upon  the  Redoutable ;  nor  did  we  separate 
from  each  other  for  some  time  after  the  battle 
had  ceased  between  the  rest  of  the  fleets.  The 
Victory  lost  her  mizen-mast,  her  rigging  was 
nearly  cut  to  pieces,  and  a  great  part  of  her  crew 
were  disabled.  Admiral  Nelson  was  killed  by  a 
musket  shot  during  the  attempt  to  board. 

"  At  seven  in  the  evening  the  Swiftsure  took  us 
in  tow,  and  next  morning  sent  a  party  on  board  to 
take  charge  and  remove  Captain  Lucas,  Lieutenant 
Dupotet,  and  M.  Ducrest.  By  noon  the  leaks  had 
increased  so  much,  that  the  prize-master  signalled 
for  assistance.  The  Swiftsure  sent  her  boats  to 
save  the  remainder  of  our  crew,  but  they  had  only 
the  time  to  remove  one  hundred  and  nineteen 
Frenchmen.     About  seven  that  evening  the  whole 

sommes  separes  tous  trois  que  plusieurs  heures  apres  que  les 
armees  ne  combattaient  plus.  Le  V.  Victory  a  perdu  son  mat 
d'artimon,  son  petit  mat  d'hune,  son  grand  mat  de  perroquet, 
presque  toutes  ses  vergues ;  sa  barre  de  gouvemail  a  ete 
coupee ;  il  a  en  beaucoup  de  monde  hors  de  combat  et 
particulierement  Tamiral  Nelson,  tue  a  Tabordage  par  le  feu 
de  notre  mousqueterie. 

"  Vers  les  7  hs  du  soir,  le  V.  angl.  le  Swift-Sure  est  venu 
nous  prendre  a  la  remorque.  Le  30,  au  matin,  il  a  envoye 
un  canot  a  bord  du  Redoutable  chercher  le  Commandant 
Lucas,  le  lieut*  en  pied  Dupotet  et  Tenseigne  de  V.  Ducrest. 
Vers  les  midi  le  mat  de  misaine  du  Redoutable  est  venu  a 
bas ;  ^  5  h.  du  soir  le  cap.  de  prise  a  fait  un  signal  pour 
demander  du  secours.  Le  V.  le  Swift-Sure  a  envoye  des 
embarcations  pour  sauver  le  monde;  on  a  en  que  le  temps 
d'en   retirer  119  fran9ais  et  a  7  hs  du  soir  la  poupe  du 


ALL  THAT   WERE   LEFT  157 

of  the  stem  being  under  water,  the  Redoutable 
went  down  with  all  the  wounded  on  board.  On 
the  23rd  (1^'®  Brumaire)  the  captain  of  the  Swift- 
sure  seeing  some  people  at  a  distance  on  a  wreck, 
caused  them  to  be  brought  in,  to  the  number  of 
fifty,  but,  including  sixty-four  of  the  wounded,  who 
were  taken  out,  not  more  than  one  hundred  and 
sixty-nine  were  saved  out  of  four  hundred  and 
sixty-three. 

"  On  board  the  Swiftsure. 

"  Signed  by  the  Officers  of  the  quarter-deck 
and  confirmed  by  "  Captain  Lucas." 

Redoutable  s'etant  entierement  ecroulee,  11  a  coule  a  fond 
avec  les  malheureux  blesses  qui  etaient  restes  a  bord. 

"  Le  1®'  brumaire  au  matin  le  cap.  du  V.  angl.  Swift-Sure 
ayant  apercj-u  de  loin  plusieurs  hommes  sur  des  dromes,  les  a 
envoye  chercher,  au  nombre  de  50 :  la  totalite  des  hommes 
sauves  est  de  169  h.  sur  le  nombre  desquels  70  sont  blesses. 

"  En  foi  de  quoi  nous  avons  dresse  le  present  proces  verbal 
a  bord  du  V.  angl.  le  Swift-Sure  les  jour,  mois  et  an,  que  ci 
dessus,  et  avons  signe : — 

"  Guillaume  :  cap.  au  79*  Bohan  :  off.  de  Sante  chef 

"  Dupotet :   (lieut   en   pied)   e^   Hosteau :  asp.  de  V^  cl. 
en  second  Chauvin  :  lieut.  au  79® 

"  Laity  :  enseigne  de  Vaiss'  Maubrat :  asp.  de  2°  cl. 

"Maiol:  enseigne  Lemesle:  d° 

"  Sergent :    d°  Le  Ferec  :  aspirant 

"Ducrest:    d^  LaFortelle:  d° 

"  Auroche :  cap.  6®  depot  colonial  Patin  :  maitre  charpentier 
"  Pean  :  ayent  comptable  Goumaud:  commis  au  vivres 

"  Blondel :  cap.  d'artillerie  Ricaud :  maitre  calfat 

"  Vu  par  le  Cap®  de  V.  commandant, 

"  Lucas.'' 


158  THE  ENEMY  AT   TRAFALGAR 


CAPTAIN  LUCAS'S  PERSONAL  NARRATIVE 

The  second  statement  is  much  fuller.  It  practi- 
cally forms  an  eyewitness's  narrative  of  the  doings 
of  the  ship  and  of  what  went  on  on  board  during 
the  battle.  The  document  is,  as  will  be  seen, 
a  clear  and  vivid  narrative  of  events.  The  original 
report,  dated  Reading,  6th  January,  1806,  is  in  the 
archives  of  the  Ministry  of  Marine :  Vol.  B.B.^  237. 
"Batailles  de  Trafalgar  et  du  Cap  Ortegal";  No.  28. 
It  was  apparently  conveyed  to  France  by  Cap- 
tain Magendie  on  his  release  on  parole  during 
January,  1806.  Captain  Lucas  heads  his  account 
as  follows: — 

"  REPORT 

"  Made  to  his  Excellency  the  Minister  of  Marine 
and  of  the  Colonies,  by  M.  Lucas,  naval  captain, 
officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honour,  on  the  sea  battle 
of  Trafalgar  between  the  combined  fleet  of  France 
and  Spain  under  the  orders  of  Admirals  Villeneuve 
and  Gravina  and  the  English  fleet  commanded  by 
Admiral  Nelson;  and  particularly  on  the  combat 
between  the  Victory  of  110  guns  with  the  flag 
of  Admiral  Nelson,  the  Temeraire  of  the  same 
force  and  another  ship,  a  two -decker,  and  the 
Redoutable,  of  which  His  Majesty  had  entrusted 
me  with  the  command'' 


TO  THE   MEMORY   OF   BRAVE   MEN  159 

He  then  proceeds : — 

"  Monseigneur, 

"Although  the  loss  of  the  Redoutable 
forms  a  part  of  the  defeat  undergone  by  the  Com- 
bined Fleets  of  France  and  Spain  in  the  sanguinary 
battle  off  Cape  Trafalgar,  the  part  taken  by  this 
particular  ship,  all  the  same,  deserves  a  distinguished 
place  by  itself  in  the  annals  of  the  French  Navy. 
In  consequence  I  owe  it  to  the  memory  of  the 
brave  men  who  fell  in  the  terrible  fight,  or  went 
down  in  the  remains  of  the  Redoutable  when  she 
sank,  I  owe  it  also  to  the  glory  of  the  small  band 
of  those  who  survived  that  inexpressible  slaughter, 
to  bring  under  the  notice  of  your  Excellency  a 
picture  of  their  exploits,  the  efforts  of  their  valour, 
and  above  all  the  expressions  of  their  love  for,  and 
attachment  to,  His  Imperial  and  Royal  Majesty, 
whose  name,  repeated  a  thousand  times  with  the 
utmost  enthusiasm,  seemed  to  render  them  in- 
vincible. Nothing  could  equal  the  ardour  of  such 
heroes  at  the  moment  that  I  announced  to  them 
that  we  were  going  to  board  the  English  flagship ; 
and  not  even  the  intrepid  Nelson  himself  could 
have  died  more  nobly  than  in  combating  enemies 
so  worthy  of  his  courage  and  of  his  grand 
reputation. 

"  I  will  not  undertake  here  to  explain  the  move- 
ments of  the  two  fleets  during  the  whole  of  the 
action.     Surrounded  myself  with  fire  and  smoke,  I 


160  THE  ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

was  only  able  at  intervals  to  discern  the  ships  in 
my  immediate  neighbourhood.  .  .  .  But  I  will 
enter  into  all  the  details  of  what  took  place  on 
board  the  Redoutable  during  the  contest  that  my 
ship  went  through  at  the  cannon's  mouth  and 
broadside  to  broadside  with  a  ship  of  a  hundred 
and  ten  guns,  the  Temeraire  of  the  same  force, 
and  a  third  ship,  a  two-decker,  of  which  I  do  not 
know  the  name." 

Captain  Lucas  next  gives  his  account  of  the 
events  of  the  morning  up  to  the  moment  of  open- 
ing fire,  which  has  been  already  quoted.  He  then 
goes  on  as  follows : — 

"At  eleven  the  fleet  hoisted  its  colours.  The 
ensign  of  the  Redoutable  went  up  in  a  very  im- 
pressive manner;  the  drums  beat  ' Aux  Drapeaux'; 
the  soldiers  presented  arms.  Then  the  flag  was 
saluted  by  officers  and  men  with  cheers,  seven 
times  repeated,  '  Vive  FEmpereur ! ' 

"The  enemy's  colunm,  which  was  directed 
against  our  centre,  was  at  eleven  o'clock  on  the 
port  side,  and  the  flagship  Bucentaure  began  firing. 
I  ordered  a  number  of  the  captains  of  the  guns  to 
go  up  on  the  forecastle  and  observe  why  it  was 
some  of  our  ships  fired  badly.  They  found  that 
all  their  shots  carried  too  low  and  fell  short.  1 
then  gave  orders  to  aim  for  dismasting,  and  above 
all  to  aim  straight.  At  a  quarter  to  twelve  the 
Redoutable  opened  fire  with  a  shot  from  the  first 


READY   FOR   THE   ^'VICTORY"  l6l 

gun  division.  It  cut  through  the  foretopsail  yard 
of  the  Victory,  whereupon  cheers  and  shouts  re- 
sounded all  over  the  ship.  Our  firing  was  well 
kept  up,  and  in  less  than  ten  minutes  the  British 
flagship  had  lost  her  mizen-mast,  foretopsail,  and 
main  topgallant  mast.  Meanwhile  I  always  kept 
so  close  to  the  Bucentaure  that  several  times  they 
called  to  me  from  their  stern  gallery  that  I  should 
run  them  down ;  indeed,  the  bowsprit  of  the  Re- 
doutable  touched  the  crown  of  the  flagship's  taff*- 
rail ;  but  I  assured  them  they  had  nothing  to  be 
anxious  about. 

"The  damage  done  to  the  Victory  did  not 
affect  the  daring  manoeuvre  of  Admiral  Nelson. 
He  repeatedly  persisted  in  trying  to  break  the  line 
in  front  of  the  Redoutable,  and  threatening  to  run 
us  down  if  we  opposed.  But  the  proximity  of 
the  British  flagship,  though  closely  followed  by  the 
T^meraire,  instead  of  intimidating  my  intrepid 
crew,  only  increased  their  ardour ;  and  to  show  the 
English  admiral  that  we  did  not  fear  his  fouling 
us,  I  had  grappling  irons  made  fast  at  all  the  yard- 
arms. 

"  The  Victory  having  now  succeeded  in  passing 
astern  of  the  French  admiral,  ran  foul  of  us, 
dropping  alongside  and  sheering  off*  aft  in  such  a 
way  that  our  poop  lay  alongside  her  quarter-deck. 
From  this  position  the  grappling  irons  were  thrown 
on  board  her.  Those  at  the  stem  parted,  but 
those  forward  held  on ;  and  at  the  same  time  our 


162  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

broadside  was  discharged,  resulting  in  a  terrible  ^ 
slaughter.  We  continued  to  fire  for  some  time, 
although  there  was  some  delay  at  the  guns.  We 
had  to  use  rope  rammers  in  several  cases,  and  fire 
with  the  guns  run  in,  being  unable  to  bowse  them, 
as  the  ports  were  masked  by  the  sides  of  the 
Victory.  At  the  same  time,  elsewhere,  by  means  of 
muskets  fired  through  the  ports  into  those  of  the 
Victory,  we  prevented  the  enemy  from  loading 
their  guns,  and  before  long  they  stopped  firing  on 
us  altogether.  What  a  day  of  glory  for  the 
Redoutable  if  she  had  had  to  fight  only  with  the 
Victory !  The  English  batteries,  not  being  able  to 
resist  us  longer,  ceased  firing  (les  batteries  du 
Victoire  ne  pouvaient  plus  nous  riposter).^  Then  I 
became  aware  that  the  crew  of  the  enemy  were 
about  to  attempt  to  board  us.  At  once  I  had  the 
trumpets  sounded,  giving  the  divisional  call  for 
boarding.  All  hastened  up  from  below  instantly, 
in  fine  style ;  the  officers  and  midshipmen  sprang 
to  the  head  of  their  men,  as  though  at  a  parade. 
In  less  than  a  minute  our  decks  swarmed  with 
armed  men,  who  spread  themselves  with  rapidity 
on  the  poop  and  in  the  nettings  and  the  shrouds. 

1  "  The  Redoutable  commenced  a  heavy  fire  of  musketry  from  the 
tops,  which  was  continued  for  a  considerable  time  with  destructive 
eflfect  to  the  Victory's  crew  ;  her  great  guns,  however,  being  silent,  it 
was  supposed  at  different  times  that  she  had  surrendered ;  and,  in 
consequence  of  this  opinion,  the  Victory  twice  ceased  firing  upon 
her  by  Orders  transmitted  from  the  Quarter  deck." — Dr.  Beatty's 
"Authentic  Narrative  of  the  Death  of  Lord  Nelson." 


MIDSHIPMAN   YON 


163 


It  would  be  impossible  to  say  who  was  the  fore- 
most. 

"Then  a  heavy  fire  of  musketry  opened,  in 
which  Admiral  Nelson  fought  at  the  head  of  his 
crew.  Our  firing,  though,  became  so  rapid,  and 
was  so  much  superior  to  his, 
that  in  less  than  a  quarter  of 
an  hour  we  had  silenced  that 
of  the  Victory  altogether. 
More  than  two  hundred  gren- 
ades were  flung  on  board  her, 
with  the  utmost  success ;  her 
decks  were  strewn  with  the 
dead  and  wounded.  Admiral 
Nelson  was  killed  by  the 
firing  of  our  musketry. 

"  Immediately  after  this, 
the  upper  deck  of  the  Victory 
became  deserted,  and  she 
again  ceased  firing,  but  it 
proved  difficult  to  board  her 
because  of  the  motion  of  the 
two  vessels,  and  the  height 
of  the  Victory's  upper  tier 
and  battery.  On  that  I  gave  the  order  to  cut 
the  supports  of  the  main-yard  so  that  it  might 
serve  as  a  bridge.  At  the  same  time  Midshipman 
Yon  and  four  seamen  sprang  on  board  the  Victory 
by  means  of  her  anchor,  and  we  then  knew  that 
there  was  nobody  left  in  the  batteries.     At  that 


MIDSHIPMAN,  FRENCH   NAVY 
1805 


164  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

moment,  when  my  brave  fellows  were  hastening 
to  follow,  the  three-decker  Temeraire,  which  had 
seen  that  the  Victory  fought  no  longer  and  must 
without  fail  be  taken  (allait  infailliblement  etre 
pris),  came  down,  full  sail,  on  our  starboard 
side.  We  were  immediately  under  the  full  fire 
of  her  artillery,  discharged  almost  with  muzzles 
touching. 

"It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  carnage  pro- 
duced by  the  murderous  broadside  of  this  ship. 
More  than  two  hundred  of  our  brave  men  were 
killed  or  wounded  by  it.  I  was  wounded  also  at 
the  same  time,  but  not  so  seriously  as  to  make  me 
abandon  my  post.  Not  being  able  to  undertake 
anything  on  the  side  of  the  Victory,  I  now  ordered 
the  rest  of  the  crew  to  man  the  batteries  on  the 
other  side  and  fire  at  the  Temeraire  with  what 
guns  the  collision  when  she  came  alongside  had 
not  dismounted. 

"  The  order  was  carried  out ;  but  by  this  time 
we  had  been  so  weakened,  and  had  so  few  guns 
left  available,  that  the  Temeraire  replied  to  us  with 
great  advantage.  A  short  time  afterwards  another 
ship,  a  two-decker,  whose  name  I  cannot  recall, 
placed  herself  across  the  stem  of  the  Redoutable 
and  fired  on  us  within  pistol-shot.  In  less  than 
half  an  hour  our  ship  had  been  so  fearfully  mauled 
that  she  looked  like  little  more  than  a  heap  of 
debris.  Judging  by  appearances,  no  doubt,  the 
Tdmeraire  now  hailed  us  to   surrender  and   not 


=  ^ 


CSJ3 


Sf 


re     «    «  /c    e 


"ALL  SHATTERED  TO   SPLINTERS"  l65 

prolong  a  useless  resistance.  My  reply  was  in- 
stantly to  order  some  soldiers  who  were  near  me 
to  fire  back ;  which  they  did  with  great  alacrity. 
At  the  same  moment  almost,  the  mainmast  of 
the  Redoutable  fell  on  board  the  English  ship. 
The  two  topmasts  of  the  T^meraire  then  came 
down,  falling  on  board  of  us.  Our  whole  poop 
was  stove  in,  helm,  rudder,  and  stem  post  all 
shattered  to  splinters,  all  the  stem  frame,  and  the 
decks  shot  through.  All  our  own  guns  were 
either  smashed  or  dismounted  by  the  broadsides 
of  the  Victory  and  Tem^raire.  In  addition,  an 
18-pounder  gun  on  the  lower  deck,  and  a  32-pounder 
carronade  on  the  forecastle  had  burst,  killing  and 
wounding  a  great  many  men.  The  hull  itself  was 
riddled,  shot  through  from  side  to  side ;  deck  beams 
were  shattered ;  port-lids  torn  away  or  knocked 
to  pieces.  Four  of  our  six  pumps  were  so  damaged 
as  to  be  useless.  The  quarter-deck  ladders  were 
broken,  which  rendered  communication  with  the 
rest  of  the  ship  very  difficult.  Everywhere  the 
decks  were  strewn  with  dead  men,  lying  beneath 
the  debris.  Out  of  a  crew  of  634  men  we  had 
522  hoi^s  de  combat;  of  whom  300  were  killed 
and  222  wounded — nearly  all  the  officers  among 
them.  A  number  of  the  wounded  were  killed 
on  the  orlop  deck  below  the  water-line.  Of  the 
remaining  121,  a  large  number  were  employed  in 
the  storerooms  and  magazines.     The  batteries  and 


166  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

upper  decks  were  practically  abandoned — bare  of 
men,  and  we  were  unable  longer  to  offer  any 
resistance.  No  one  who  had  not  seen  the  state  of 
the  Redoutable  could  ever  form  an  idea  of  her 
awful  condition.  Really  I  know  of  nothing  on 
board  that  had  not  been  hit  by  shot.^  In  the  midst 
of  this  horrible  carnage  and  devastation  my  splen- 
did fellows  who  had  not  been  killed,  and  even,  too, 
the  wounded  below  on  the  orlop,  kept  cheering 
*  Long  live  the  Emperor  I  We  are  not  taken  yet ! 
Is  the  Captain  still  alive?'  ('Vive  FEmpereur! 
Nous  ne  sommes  pas  encore  pris  !  Le  Command- 
ant, vit  il  encore?')  Some  tarred  canvas  at  the 
stern  took  fire  about  this  time,  but  happily  the 

1  Here,  by  way  of  a  comparison  with  the  effects  of  modern  gun  fire 
on  a  modern  ship  of  war,  is  an  account  by  a  newspaper  correspondent 
of  the  damage  done  to  the  Russian  battleship  '^  Orel,"  Admiral  Togo's 
great  prize  from  the  battle  of  the  Sea  of  Japan :  "  I  was  permitted 
yesterday  to  visit  and  inspect  the  captured  Russian  battleship  Orel  at 
Maizuru.  The  Orel  received  a  terrible  battering.  The  hull  shows 
forty  gaping  holes  pierced  by  large  shells  and  many  smaller  hits, 
while  the  superstructure,  upper  works,  and  upper  decks  were  riddled 
by  shell,  steel  fragments,  and  splinters.  The  starboard  forward 
12-inch  gun  was  smashed  ten  feet  from  the  muzzle,  either  by  a  shell 
or  by  an  explosion.  A  fragment  of  the  gun  went  over  the  bridge, 
smashing  the  rail,  and  carrying  away  the  breech  of  a  12-pounder, 
finally  burying  itself  in  the  signal  locker.  From  the  main  deck  up- 
wards the  condition  of  the  vessel  was  terrible.  The  steel  partitions 
were  smashed,  the  gangway  was  broken,  the  stanchions  were  wrecked, 
and  gear  of  various  kinds  littered  the  decks  and  alley  ways.  The 
ship  was  on  fire  several  times,  and  the  marks  of  the  flames  in- 
creased the  appearance  of  the  desolation.  The  main  armour  belt 
was  intact,  and  the  turret  armour  generally  withstood  Japanese  shell, 
although  two  six-inch  turrets  were  rendered  unserviceable  by  shots, 
which  struck  close  to  the  base.  Several  smaller  guns  were  dismounted 
and  smashed." 


"I  GAVE  ORDERS  TO  LOWER  THE  COLOURS"      l67 

flames  were  held  in  check,  and  we  succeeded  before 
long  in  extinguishing  them.^ 

"The  Victory  by  this  time  fought  no  longer. 
She  busied  herself  only  with  getting  clear  of  the 
Redoutable.  We,  however,  meanwhile  were  being 
cut  to  pieces  by  the  cross  fire  from  the  Temeraire, 
with  whom  we  still  fought,  and  from  the  other 
ship,  which  was  still  firing  into  us  at  the  stem. 
Unable  to  meet  that  fire,  and  not  seeing  any 
chance  of  rescue,  the  rest  of  our  ships  being  all  too 
far  to  leeward  to  be  able  to  come  to  our  assistance, 
I  hesitated  no  longer  about  surrendering.  The  leaks 
were  sufficiently  serious  to  ensure  the  ship  going 
to  the  bottom,  so  that  the  enemy  would  not  keep 
her.  When  I  satisfied  myself  finally  about  this, 
I  gave  orders  to  lower  the  colours.  The  flag, 
however,  came  down  by  itself  with  the  fall  of  the 
mizen-mast.-  We  were  then  left  by  the  ship  which 
had  been  firing  into  us  astern,  but  the  Temeraire 
continued  to  fire  on  us.     She  did  not  give  over 

*  A  party  from  the  ''Victory,"  consisting  of  two  midshipmen  and 
eight  or  ten  marines,  was  sent  on  board  the  "  Redoutable  ^'  to  lend  a 
hand.  As  the  only  way  of  getting  across  they  got  down  through  a 
stern  port  into  one  of  the  "  Victory's  "  boats  towing  astern,  rowed  to 
the  "  Redoutable,"  and  clambered  on  board  through  the  stern  ports. 
They  were,  we  are  told,  ''well  received." 

2  Several  pictures  of  the  "Defence  of  the  Redoutable  at  Trafalgar" 
have  been  exhibited  at  the  Salon.  A  very  interesting  set  of  sketches 
in  Indian  ink,  showing  the  movements  of  the  "  Redoutable  "  and  details 
of  the  battle  in  her  neighbourhood,  was  made  at  Captain  Lucas's 
instance.  Copies  are  in  the  Musee  de  la  Marine  at  the  Louvre,  which 
by  permission  of  Captain  Lucas's  family,  and  the  Conservateur  of  the 
Musee  de  la  Marine,  are  reproduced  in  this  book. 


168  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

until  her  men  were  obliged  to  do  so  by  having  to 
work  at  extinguishing  a  fire  which  had  broken  out 
on  board  their  own  ship.  It  was  then  half-past 
two  in  the  afternoon. 

"  The  Victory,  the  Redoutable,  with  the  Temer- 
aire  and  the  Mercure  [sicy  were  all  the  time 
joined  together,  owing  to  their  masts  having  fallen 
across  from  one  ship  to  the  other.  Unable  to 
use  their  helms,  they  formed  one  mass,  which 
drifted  at  the  mercy  of  the  wind.  In  that  way 
they  came  foul  of  the  Fougueux,  which,  hav- 
ing fought  against  several  of  the  enemy's  ships, 
had  been  left  by  them  without  having  lowered  her 
flag.  She  was  dismasted  and  unrigged,  and  float- 
ing an  unmanageable  hulk.  On  fouling  the  group 
of  ships  she  was  boarded  by  the  Temeraire.  The 
Fougueux  was,  however,  beyond  making  serious 
resistance.  Her  brave  captain,  Baudouin,  though, 
even  then  made  an  effort,  but  in  vain.  He  was 
killed  at  the  outset,  and  his  second  in  command 
was  wounded  at  the  same  moment;  whereupon 
some  men  of  the  Temeraire  sprang  on  board  and 
took  possession." 

^  There  was  no  ship  of  this  name  at  Trafalgar  on  either  side.  As 
a  fact,  also,  the  '*  Victory  "  had  already  got  clear  of  the  group  before 
the  "  Redoutable  "  surrendered.  The  capture  of  the  *'  Fougueux,"  here 
referred  to  by  Captain  Lucas,  also  took  place  before  the  "Redoutable's" 
colours  came  down,  and,  according  to  English  accounts,  under  some- 
what different  circumstances — as  the  result  of  an  attempt  to  rescue  the 
"  Redoutable  "  by  boarding  the  "  Temeraire." 


THREAT  TO   SET  THE   SHIP   ON   FIRE         169 

Captain  Lucas  then  describes  what  followed  the 
surrender. 

"The  enemy  took  no  steps  to  take  possession 
of  the  Redoutable,  in  which  the  leaks  were  so  con- 
siderable that  I  feared  the  ship  would  sink  before 
they  would  be  able  to  get  the  wounded  out.  I 
represented  the  state  of  things  to  the  Temc^raire, 
and  warned  them  that  unless  they  took  steps  at 
once  to  send  men  on  board  with  gear  for  the  pumps 
and  give  us  immediate  succour,  I  would  have  to  set 
fire  to  the  ship,  which  would  involve  the  Tem^raire 
and  the  Victory.  Immediately  after  that  two 
officers  and  some  seamen  and  marines  came  on 
board  and  took  possession  of  the  ship.  One  of  the 
English  marines,  who  entered  on  the  lower  deck 
through  a  port,  was  attacked  by  one  of  our 
wounded  sailors  armed  with  a  musket  and  bayonet. 
He  fell  on  the  Englishman  with  fury,  shouting,  '  1 
must  kill  one  more  of  them  I '  He  bayoneted  the 
marine  through  the  thigh,  and  the  man  fell  between 
the  two  vessels.  In  spite  of  this  incident,  how- 
ever, I  was  able  to  induce  the  English  party  to 
remain  on  board.  They  wanted  to  return  to  their 
own  ship  and  leave  us. 

"  Towards  three  o'clock  some  of  the  ships  of  our 
van  squadron  which  were  to  windward  on  the 
starboard  tack  and  apparently  about  to  draw  off 
from  the  battle,  without  having  been  perceptibly 
damaged,  fired  several  shots  at  our  group,  but  from 
a  long  range.     Several  of  their  cannon  balls  fell 


170  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

on  board  the  Redoutable,  and  one  of  the  English 
officers  had  his  thigh  shattered  and  died  in  a  few 
moments. 

"  At  half-past  three,  the  Victory  separated  her- 
self from  the  Redoutable,  but  she  was  in  so  dis- 
mantled a  state  as  to  be  hors  de  combat}  It  was 
not  until  seven  in  the  evening  that  they  were  able 
to  get  the  Redoutable  clear  of  the  Tem^raire, 
which  still,  however,  remained  foul  of  the  Fougueux. 
We  had  not  yet  been  formally  taken  possession  of, 
but  the  English  Swiftsure  now  arrived  and  took  us 
in  tow. 

"  We  spent  the  whole  of  that  night  at  the  two 
pumps  which  were  all  that  remained  workable, 
without,  however,  being  able  to  keep  the  water 
under.  The  few  Frenchmen  who  were  able  to  do 
duty  joined  with  the  English  party  on  board  in 
pumping,  stopped  several  leaks,  blocked  up  the 
port  holes  and  boarded  in  the  poop  of  the  ship, 
which  was  ready  to  cave  in.  Indeed,  no  toil  was 
too  hard  for  them.  In  the  middle  of  all  the 
turmoil  and  horrible  disorder  on  board,  just  keep- 
ing the  ship  above  water,  with  the  'tween-decks 
and  batteries  encumbered  with  dead,  I  noticed 
some  of  my  brave  fellows,  particularly  the  young 
midshipmen,  of  whom  several  were  wounded, 
picking  up  arms  which  they  hid  on  the  lower  deck, 
with  the  intention,  as  they  said,  of  retaking  the 

*  The  "  Victory  "  got  clear,  according  to  English  accounts,  before 
two  o'clock. 


"WORTHY   OF   A   BETTER   FATE"  171 

ship.  Never  were  so  many  traits  of  intrepidity, 
of  valour  and  daring,  displayed  on  board  a  single 
ship;  the  whole  history  of  our  navy  can  show 
nothing  like  them. 

"Next  morning  the  captain  of  the  Swiftsure 
sent  a  boat  to  take  me  on  board,  together  with 
Lieutenant  Dupotet  and  Midshipman  Ducrest, 
and  we  were  duly  conducted  there.  At  noon  the 
Redoutable  lost  her  foremast,  the  only  mast  she 
had  left.  At  five  in  the  evening  the  water  con- 
tinued so  to  gain  on  the  pumps  that  the  prize- 
master  made  signals  of  distress,  and  all  the  boats 
of  the  Swiftsure  were  lowered  to  rescue  the  crew. 
It  was  blowing  very  hard  at  the  time,  and  the  sea 
ran  very  high,  which  made  the  getting  out  of  the 
wounded  very  difficult.  These  poor  fellows,  on  its 
being  seen  that  the  ship  was  going  down,  were 
nearly  all  brought  up  and  laid  on  the  quarter-deck. 
They  were  able  to  save  several  of  them.  At  seven 
in  the  evening  the  poop  was  entirely  submerged. 
The  Redoutable  sank  with  a  large  number  of  the 
wounded  still  on  board.  They  met  their  death 
with  courage  worthy  of  a  better  fate.  A  hundred 
and  sixty-nine  men,  forming  the  remainder  of  the 
brave  crew  of  the  Redoutable,  found  themselves 
together  on  board  the  English  ship.  Seventy  of 
the  number  were  badly  wounded  and  sixty-four 
of  the  rest  had  less  serious  wounds.  All  the 
wounded  were  sent  into  Cadiz  under  a  flag  of 
truce,  and  in  the  end  only  thirty-five  men  from 


172  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

the  Redoutable  were  taken  to  England  as  prisoners 
of  war. 

"The  results  of  the  battle  as  regarded  the 
Redoutable  were  these :  the  loss  of  the  ship  and 
destruction  of  three-quarters  of  her  crew.  On  the 
other  hand,  single-handed,  she  had  throughout  the 
battle  engaged  the  attention  of  two  three-deckers, 
the  Victory  and  Temeraire ;  and  in  this  way  had 
fully  occupied  Admiral  Nelson  himself,  who,  taken 
up  with  this  one  encounter,  could  only  free  him- 
self by  excessive  daring.  England  has  lost  the 
hero  of  her  navy,  who  fell  before  the  brave  men  of 
the  Redoutable.  More  than  three  hundred  men, 
several  of  them  superior  officers,  were  put  hors  de 
combat  on  board  the  enemy's  ships.  The  Victory 
lost  her  mizen  topmast  in  the  action  and  main  top- 
gallant mast ;  and  in  general  all  her  yards  were 
badly  damaged  and  also  the  wheel.  The  Temer- 
aire lost  two  of  her  topmasts  ;  two  lower  yards,  and 
her  helm  and  rudder  were  destroyed  by  the  guns  of 
our  upper  deck.  Both  ships  had  to  return  to  Eng- 
land to  undergo  large  repairs. 

"  1  add  to  this  report  a  return  of  the  ship's  com- 
pany of  the  Redoutable,  both  before  and  after  the 
battle.  It  will  show  you  the  loss  of  men  of  each 
class.  I  also  add  a  list  of  the  officers  by  name, 
both  of  the  Etat  Major  and  the  midshipmen.  The 
praise  and  commendation  due  from  me  to  one 
and  all  are  beyond  expression.  No  one  who 
did  not  see  the  valour  of  the  officers  and  young 


"UNSURPASSABLE   COURAGE"  173 

midshipmen  told  off  to  lead  our  boarding  parties 
can  form  an  idea  of  their  ebullient  ardour,  their 
splendid  audacity — especially  when,  at  the  head 
of  the  brave  men  that  each  commanded,  they 
stood  in  front  of  the  boarding-nettings,  armed 
some  with  pistols  and  cutlasses,  others  with  car- 
bines, all  directing  the  fire  of  the  musketry  and  the 
flinging  of  the  grenades.  In  this,  the  officers  of 
infantry  and  those  of  the  ship,  the  sailors  and 
soldiers  alike,  all  displayed  unsurpassable  courage, 
and  in  presenting  my  list  of  them  it  is  impossible 
to  name  which  were  the  most  meritorious. 

"  Monseigneur,  I  have  the  honour  to  be  your 
Excellency's  most  humble  and  obedient  servant. 


^^iS^j^ 


'*  Captain  Commandant  of  the  Redoutable." 

Of  the  645  officers  and  men  mustered  on  board 
the  "Redoutable"  a  day  or  two  before  Captain 
JLucas  left  Cadiz,  300,  according  to  the  official 
returns,  were  killed  and  222  wounded.  Terrible  as 
these  figures  are,  their  significance  is  intensified  if 
one  goes  through,  by  itself,  the  official  return  of 
the  officers  placed  hors  de  combat.  It  is  com- 
piled from  documents  among  the  archives  of  the 
Ministry  of  Marine  in  Paris ;  which  also  account 
for  practically  every  officer  on  board  all  the  ships 


174  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

of  the  fleet  present  at  the  battle.  This  is  the  "  Re- 
doutable's  "  return,  giving  a  nominal  roll  of  all  the 
officers,  both  those  of  the  ship  herself  and  of 
the  soldiers,  on  board : — 

ETAT   MAJOR  DU  '' REDOUT  ABLE": 

Lucas  (Jean  Jaques  Etienne)  capitaine  de  vaisseau  com- 
mandant.    Blesse. 

Dupotet  (Henri  Joseph)  lieutenant  en  pied.     Blesse. 

Briamant  (Elie  Frangois)  lieutenant  de  vaisseau,  provisoire. 
Tu6. 

Pouloin  (Fran9ois  Louis)  id.     Tue. 

Maiol  (Jean  Fran9ois)  enseigne  de  vaisseau,  faisant  fonctions 
de  lieutenant  de  vaisseau.     Blesse. 

Sergent  (Pierre)  id.     Blesse. 

Ducrest  (Alexandre)  id. 

Laity  (Jean  Fran9ois)  enseigne  de  vaisseau.     Blesse. 

Tresse  (Claude  Joseph)  lieutenant  d'artillerie  de  marine.  Tue. 

Pean  (Jean  Louis)  agent  comtable. 

Bohan  (Allain)  officier  de  sante  en  chef. 

Guillaume  (Louis)  Capitaine  du  79®  regiment.  Blesse  tres 
gri^vement. 

Chauvin  (Pierre)  lieutenant  du  79®  regiment. 

Medeau  (Jean)  sous  lieutenant  du  79®  regiment.     Tue. 

Auroche  (Louis)  capitaine  au  6®  depot  colonial.     Blesse. 

Neury  (Charles)  lieutenant  du  6®  depot  colonial.     Tue. 

Blondel  (Quentin  Henri-Auguste)  capitaine  d'artillerie  de 
marine. 

Chafange  (Charles)  capitaine  de  16®  regiment.     Tue. 

Savignac,  sous  lieutenant  du  l6®  regiment.     Tue. 

Hosteau  (Louis  Charles)  aspirant  de  1'*  classe,  faisant  fonc- 
tions d'enseigne  de  vaisseau.     Blesse. 

Laferriere  (Philippe  Gautier)  id.     Tue. 

Lepeltier  (Fran9ois)  id.     Tvl6. 

Yon  (Jaques)  id.     Tu^. 

Daubre  (Joseph)   aspirant  de  2*  classe.     Tu^. 

Perrin  (Fran9ois)  id.     Tu6. 


WHAT   NAPOLEON   SAID  175 

Maubrat  (Seraphin)  id. 

La  Fortelle  (Henri)  id.     Blesse. 

Lemesle,  id. 

Le  Ferec  (Theodore)  id.     Blesse. 

The  awful  loss  among  the  officers  comes  out  even 
more  strongly  when  the  foregoing  list  is  analyzed 
in  detail.  Out  of  twenty-nine  officers  of  all  ranks, 
twelve  were  killed  and  ten  (including  Captain 
Lucas)  were  wounded.  Seven  only  escaped  un- 
hurt; and  these  included  the  surgeon  and  the 
purser,  who  were  stationed  in  comparative  safety 
below.  Of  six  lieutenants  and  acting  lieutenants, 
two  were  killed  and  three  wounded.  Of  eleven 
sub-lieutenants  and  midshipmen,  five  were  killed 
and  four  were  wounded.  Of  eight  officers  of  the 
troops  on  board,  four  were  killed  and  three  were 
wounded. 

When  Captain  Lucas,  after  a  brief  detention  in 
England  at  Bishop's  Waltham  and  at  Reading,  as 
prisoner  of  war,  was  exchanged  by  special  cartel 
and  had  returned  to  France,  Napoleon  sent  for 
him,  and  at  St.  Cloud,  in  the  presence  of  the 
Etat  Major  de  VEmpereur,  glittering  with  the 
honours  of  Austerlitz,  pinned  on  the  breast  of  the 
ex-captain  of  the  "  Redoutable,"  with  his  own 
hand,  the  Gold  Cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honour, 
and  promoted  him  to  rear-admiral.  "  Had  all  my 
officers,"  said  Napoleon  to  Lucas,  "  behaved  as  you 
did,  the  battle  would  have  been  a  very  different 


176  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

story ! "  ^  Admiral  Villeneuve  also,  writing  to 
Captain  Lucas  to  congratulate  him  on  the  Em- 
peror's encomium,  said  the  same  thing : — '*  Had 
all  the  captains  acted  in  like  manner  to  you,  the 
battle  would  not  have  been  indecisive  for  an  in- 
stant ;  and  no  one  knows  this  better  than  myself ! " 
"Si  tous  les  capitaines  de  vaisseau  s'^taient  conduits 
comme  vous  a  Trafalgar,"  were  Villeneuve's  words, 
"la  victoire  n'eut  pas  ete  un  instant  indecisee. 
Certainement  personne  ne  le  sait  aussi  bien  que 
moi." 

With  the  sanction  of  the  British  Admiralty, 
according  to  a  French  account,^  as  a  mark  of  dis- 
tinction in  connexion  with  his  fine  defence  of  the 
"Redoutable,"  Captain  Lucas's  sword  was  returned 
to  him  a  little  time  after  his  arrival  in  England. 
It  was,  we  are  told,  ceremoniously  handed  back  to 
him  at  a  supper  party  in  London  given  for  the 
occasion  by  Lady  Warren,  the  wife  of  Admiral  Sir 
John  Borlase  Warren.  Whether  this  was  really 
so  or  not,  the  sword  has  since  disappeared.     The 

1  Napoleon  used  this  language,  according  to  the  ''Gentleman's 
Magazine  "  for  1806  :  Abstract  of  Foreign  Occurrences — Paris,  May  3. 
His  Majesty  said  to  Captain  Lucas  and  Infernet : — ''  Had  all  my  ships 
behaved  like  yours,  victory  would  not  have  been  doubtful.  I  know 
there  are  several  who  did  not  follow  your  example.  I  have  ordered 
enquiries  to  be  made  into  their  behaviour.  But  as  for  you,  I  have  no 
need  of  information :  I  have  nominated  you  Commanders  in  the 
Legion  of  Honour.  Those  captains  who,  instead  of  boarding  the 
enemy's  vessels,  kept  themselves  aloof  and  out  of  cannon  shot,  shall 
be  prosecuted,  and  if  convicted  a  signal  example  shall  be  made  of 
them." 

"^  H.  Moulin,  "  Les  Marins  de  la  Republique,"  p.  132. 


CAPTAIN   LUCAS  OF   THE    '*  REDOUTABI.E 


REAR-ADMIKAL    .MAGON 


To  face  p.   176 


LUCAS  S  SEAL 


''AUX   BRAVES   DU    REDOUTABLE!"  177 

descendants  of  Captain  Lucas  do  not  possess  it, 
and  have  no  idea  of  its  whereabouts,  although 
they  treasure  with  devoted  pride  other  Trafalgar 
relics  of  their  ancestor. 

For  the  fourteen  years  that  Lucas  lived  after 
Trafalgar  the  heroic  officer  was  everywhere  known 
throughout  the  French  Navy  by  the  eponym  "le 
Redoutable  Lucas."  To  the 
last,  we  are  told  further,  he 
never  failed  to  remember 
those  who  had  fought  with 
him  for  France  at  Trafalgar. 
Lucas  also  had  a  special  seal 
made,  bearing  the  device  of  a 
ship  going  down  with  colours 
flying,  and  with  the  words  engraved,  "Aux  braves 
du  Redoutable:  Nelson  mort — le  21  Octobre, 
1805,"  which  he  used  solely  for  sealing  their  certifi- 
cates of  service.^  Rear- Admiral  Lucas  lies  buried 
in  the  cemetery  at  Brest.  He  died  in  1819,  broken- 
hearted, it  is  said,  at  being  passed  over  for  pro- 
motion by  the  new  RoyaUst  authorities.^ 

*  The  seal  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Captain  Lucas's  grandson, 
M.  Cleree,  of  Auteuil,  a  member  of  the  French  Bar. 

2  The  last  French  survivor  of  Trafalgar,  Louis  Andre  Manuel  Car- 
tigny,  of  Hyeres,  died  in  1892,  at  the  age  of  a  hundred  and  one.  He 
was  a  '^  mousse,"  or  powder-monkey,  on  board  the  "  Redoutable "  in 
the  battle,  where  he  was  slightly  wounded.  Cartigny  was  brought 
to  England,  and  remained  a  captive  on  board  the  hulks  at  Plymouth, 
at  Dartmoor,  and  in  the  war-prison  at  Stapledon,  near  Bristol,  for 
some  years.  Later  he  was  exchanged,  and,  returning  to  France,  was 
attached  to  the  ''  Seamen  of  the  Guard,"  with  whom  he  was  present  at 
Fontainebleau  on  the  memorable  occasion  in  1814  when  the  Emperor 

N 


178  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

Under  the  Second  Empire  the  name  "  Redout- 
able"  was  given  to  one  of  the  first  men-of-war 
added  to  the  navy  of  France  by  Napoleon  III,  a 
magnificent  90-gun  ship,  and  there  is  a  battleship 
"  Redoutable  "  in  the  French  Fleet  at  the  present 
hour. 

made  his  pathetic  adieu  to  the  Grand  Army.  Cartigny  received 
the  St.  Helena  pension  of  250  francs,  and  was  decorated  by  Napoleon 
the  Third  with  the  Legion  of  Honour.  He  was  present  at  Chislehurst 
on  the  occasion  of  the  Prince  Imperial's  funeral,  as  one  of  the  "  St. 
Helena  Medallists."  He  died  at  Hyeres,  where  he  had  spent  the  later 
years  of  his  life  as  landlord  of  the  Grand  Cafe  des  Quatre  Saisons,  on 
the  Gours  de  Strasbourg.  As  it  happened,  the  funeral  of  France's 
last  Trafalgar  veteran  occurred  just  as  Queen  Victoria  was  arriving 
at  Hyeres  for  some  weeks'  stay  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  as  soon 
as  she  heard  of  it  Her  Majesty  sent  a  wreath  to  be  placed  on  the 
veteran's  grave,  with  a  sympathetic  message  to  his  surviving  daughter 
and  an  expression  of  regret  that  she  had  not  known  before  of  the  death 
or  she  would  have  been  represented  by  an  equerry  at  the  graveside. 


CHAPTER   XII 

"THE    MAN    WHO    SHOT    NELSON'' 

UPWARDS  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  after 
Trafalgar  there  appeared  in  France  the  follow- 
ing narrative,  purporting  to  have  been  written  by  a 
soldier  on  board  the  "  Redoutable,"  and  stationed 
in  the  mizentop,  one  Sergeant  Robert  Guillemard. 
Its  authenticity  has,  however,  been  doubted,  and 
the  authorship  is  attributed  to  a  collaboration  by 
two  clever  writers  of  the  day,  C.  O.  Barbaroux 
(son  of  the  famous  Girondin),  and  A.  J.  Lardier, 
who  published  it  as  a  chapter  in  a  book  of  adven- 
tures in  the  Napoleonic  wars.  Whatever  the  real 
facts  may  be,  the  tale  told  is  an  exciting  one,  and 
certain  of  its  details  may  well  have  come  from  some- 
body on  board  the  "  Redoutable  "  at  Trafalgar. 

Here  is  an  extract  from  the  story,  as  Sergeant 
Guillemard  relates  it : — 

"All  our  top-men  had  been  killed,  when  two 
sailors  and  four  soldiers  (of  whom  I  was  one)  were 
ordered  to  occupy  their  post  in  the  tops.  While 
we  were  going  aloft,  the  balls  and  grape-shot 
showered  around  us,  struck  the  masts  and  yards, 
knocked  large  splinters  from  them,  and  cut  the 
rigging  in  pieces.     One  of  my  companions  was 

179 


180  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

wounded  beside  me,  and  fell  from  a  height  of 
thirty  feet  upon  the  deck,  where  he  broke  his  neck. 

"When  I  reached  the  top,  my  first  action 
was  to  take  a  view  of  the  scene  presented  by 
the  hostile  fleets.  For  more  than  a  league  ex- 
tended a  thick  cloud  of  smoke,  above  which  were 
discernible  a  forest  of  masts  and  rigging,  and  the 
flags,  the  pendants,  and  the  fire  of  the  three 
nations.  Thousands  of  flashes  more  or  less  near 
continually  penetrated  this  cloud,  and  a  rolling 
noise  very  similar  to  the  sound  of  continued 
thunder,  but  much  stronger,  arose  from  its  bosom. 
The  sea  was  calm,  the  wind  light,  and  not  very 
favourable  to  the  execution  of  manoeuvres. 

"When  the  English  top-men,  who  were  only  a 
few  yards  distant  from  us,  saw  us  appear,  they 
directed  a  sharp  fire  upon  us,  which  we  returned.^ 
A  soldier  of  my  company  and  a  sailor  were  killed 
quite  close  to  me ;  two  others,  who  were  wounded, 
were  able  to  go  below  by  the  shrouds.  Our  oppo- 
nents were,  it  seems,  still  worse  handled  than  we, 
for  I  soon  saw  the  English  tops  deserted,  and  none 
sent  to  supply  the  place  of  those  who  must  have 
been  killed  or  wounded  by  our  balls.  I  then 
looked  at  the  English  vessel  and  our  own.  The 
smoke  enveloping  them  was  dissipated  for  a 
moment  but  returned  thicker  at  each  broadside. 
The  two  decks  were  covered  with  dead  bodies, 

^  As  a  fact,  there  were  none.  Nelson  objected  to  having  musketry 
in  the  tops,  owing  to  the  danger  from  fire,  and  other  reasons. 


"I    FIRED   AT   HAZARD"  181 

which  they  had  not  time  to  throw  overboard.  I 
perceived  Captain  Lucas  motionless  at  his  post 
and  several  wounded  officers  still  giving  orders. 
On  the  poop  of  the  English  vessel  was  an  officer 
covered  with  orders  and  with  only  one  arm. 
From  what  I  had  heard  of  Nelson,  I  had  no  doubt 
that  it  was  he.  He  was  surrounded  by  several 
officers,  to  whom  he  seemed  to  be  giving  orders. 
At  the  moment  I  first  perceived  him,  several  of 
his  sailors  were  wounded  beside  him  by  the  fire  of 
the  Redoutable.  As  I  had  received  no  orders  to 
go  down,  and  saw  myself  forgotten  in  the  tops,  I 
thought  it  my  duty  to  fire  on  the  poop  of  the 
English  vessel,  which  1  saw  quite  exposed  and 
close  to  me.  I  could  even  have  taken  aim  at  the 
men  I  saw,  but  I  fired  at  hazard  among  the  groups 
I  saw  of  sailors  and  officers.  All  at  once  I  saw 
great  confusion  on  board  the  Victory:  the  men 
crowded  round  the  officer  whom  I  had  taken  for 
Nelson.  He  had  just  fallen,  and  was  taken  below, 
covered  with  a  cloak.  The  agitation  shown  at  this 
moment  left  me  no  doubt  that  I  had  judged 
rightly,  and  that  it  really  was  the  English  admiral. 
An  instant  afterwards  the  Victory  ceased  firing; 
the  deck  was  abandoned  by  all  those  who  occupied 
it,  and  I  presumed  that  the  consternation  produced 
by  the  admiral's  fall  was  the  cause  of  this  sudden 
change.  I  hurried  below  to  inform  the  captain  of 
what  I  had  seen  of  the  enemy's  situation." 


182  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

This,  on  the  other  hand,  is  our  version  of  the 
Frenchman's  fate  after  the  shot.  According  to  the 
account  on  our  side,  the  man  who  shot  Nelson  did 
not  escape  to  tell  the  tale.  It  was  impossible  in 
the  smoke  to  mark  him  down,  but  one  of  the 
"Victory's"  midshipmen  made  it  his  business  to 
see  that  not  one  of  those  in  the  mizentop  of  the 
"Redoutable"  left  there  alive.  The  story  came 
out  many  years  afterwards,  in  a  rather  roundabout 
way.  A  letter  in  the  "  Times  "  in  1863  raised  a 
controversy  as  to  the  identity  of  the  British  officer 
in  question,  it  being  asserted  that  Midshipman 
CoUingwood  of  the  "  Victory,"  an  officer  who  had 
been  dead  some  years,  was  entitled  to  the  credit 
of  the  performance.  Incidentally  the  correspond- 
ence brought  out  the  fact  that  the  "  Avenger  of 
Nelson "  was  aUve.  More  than  that,  indeed,  it 
drew  from  him  a  personal  statement  of  what  he 
did.  He  was  then  a  retired  captain,  John  Pollard 
by  name.  The  correspondence  caught  his  eye  by 
accident  in  the  "Kentish  and  Surrey  Mercury," 
into  which  it  had  been  copied  from  the  "  Times." 
Writing  to  the  Editor  of  the  "  Mercury,"  Captain 
Pollard  thus  told  his  story : — 

"I  was  on  the  poop  of  the  Victory  from  the  time 
the  men  were  beat  to  quarters  before  the  action 
till  late  in  the  evening.  I  was  the  first  struck, 
as  a  splinter  hit  my  right  arm,  and  1  was  the  only 
officer  left  alive  of  all  who  had  been  originally 
stationed  on  the  poop.     It  is  true  my  old  friend 


NOT  ONE   MAN   LEFT   ALIVE  183 

Collingwood  (who  has  now  been  dead  some  years) 
came  on  the  poop  after  I  had  for  some  time 
discovered  the  men  in  the  top  of  the  Redoutable ; 
they  were  in  a  crouching  position,  and  rose  breast- 
high  to  fire.  I  pointed  them  out  to  Collingwood  as 
I  made  my  aim ;  he  took  up  a  musket,  fired  once, 
and  then  left  the  poop,  I  concluded  to  return  to 
the  quarter-deck,  which  was  his  station  during  the 
battle.  I  remained  firing  at  the  top  till  not  a  man 
was  to  be  seen ;  the  last  one  I  discovered  coming 
down  the  mizen  rigging,  and  from  my  fire  he  fell 
also.  King,  a  quarter-master,  was  killed  while  in 
the  act  of  handing  me  a  parcel  of  ball  cartridge 
long  after  Collingwood  had  left  the  poop.  I 
remained  there  till  after  the  action  was  over,  and 
assisted  in  superintending  the  rigging  of  the  jury 
mast.  Then  I  was  ushered  into  the  ward-room 
where  Sir  Thomas  Hardy  and  other  officers  were 
assembled,  and  complimented  by  them  on  avenging 
Lord  Nelson's  death,  which  fact  afterwards  ap- 
peared in  the  Gazette,  I  did  not  go  on  board  the 
Redoutable  with  Mr.  Collingwood  at  all,  therefore 
could  not  have  discovered  the  man  'lying  in  the 
mizentop,  with  one  ball  in  his  head,  and  another 
in  his  breast.'  At  the  time  of  the  action  I  was 
nineteen  years  of  age." 


CHAPTER    XIII 

ADMIRAL    MAGON    AND    HIS    FATE 

THIS,  according  to  French  accounts,  is  how 
things  fared  with  Rear- Admiral  Magon,  Ville- 
neuve's  junior  admiral,  and  his  flagship  the 
"  Alge9iras  " : — 

The  "Alge9iras"  had  already  exchanged  fire 
with  several  vessels,  when  she  fell  in  with  the 
"Tonnant."  The  British  ship  crossed  her  bows 
and  got  entangled  with  her  bowsprit.  Then,  hold- 
ing her  antagonist  fast,  the  "  Tonnant"  began  firing 
broadsides  into  the  "Alge^iras"  that  raked  the 
French  ship  from  end  to  end,  and  to  which  she 
could  only  reply  with  a  few  of  her  foremost  guns. 
The  position  for  the  Algeijiras  was  that  of  a 
pugilist  held  fast  "in  chancery."  Admiral  Magon, 
as  the  only  thing  to  do,  gave  orders  to  board.  He 
would,  he  shouted,  lead  the  boarders  himself. 

The  next  moment,  one  bullet  carried  Magon's 
hat  and  wig  away;  a  second  struck  him  in  the 
right  arm;  immediately  after  that  a  third  bullet 
struck  him  in  the  shoulder.  Magon,  however, 
flatly  refused  to  leave  the  quarter-deck.  He 
stood  at  his  post,  rallying  the  men,  and  shouting : 


I 


STRUCK   DOWN   ON   THE   QUARTER-DECK      185 

*•  The  first  man  that  boards  that  ship  with  me  shall 
have  the  Cross  1 "  It  was  in  vain.  The  idea  was 
hopeless.  A  few  seconds  later,  a  cannon  ball 
struck  the  admiral  down.  It  cut  him  nearly  in 
two,  and  flung  him  down  on  deck  on  his  back, 
dead.     So  a  letter  from  the  ship  relates. 

A  second  account  says  that  Magon  gave  in  to 
the  repeated  solicitations  of  his  officers  and  allowed 
two  of  them  to  support  him  off  the  deck.  Before 
they  had  gone  many  steps,  however,  a  grape-shot 
struck  the  admiral  in  the  stomach  and  he  dropped 
dead  then  and  there. 

According  to  a  third  account  Rear -Admiral 
Magon  was  struck  down,  as  he  was  in  the  act  of 
heading  his  men,  a  tomahawk  in  his  hand,  in  an 
effort  to  repel  a  British  boarding  party  from  the 
"Tonnant."  He  fell  with  the  words  on  his  lips, 
"  Sauvez,  Sauvez,  I'honneur  du  Pavilion  I  "^ 

Immediately  afterwards  other  British  ships  came 
up  and  fired  into  the  "Alg^9iras,"  decimating 
her  crew.  Then  the  French  ship's  foremast  came 
down,  and  her  main  and  mizen  masts  followed, 
one  after  the  other.  Captain  Letoumeur  now  fell 
dangerously  wounded,  and  the  first  and  second 
lieutenants,  Verdreau  and  Plassan.  The  charge  of 
the  ship  devolved  on  a  young  officer.  Lieutenant 

*  Among  the  officers  on  board  was  the  Comte  d'Houdetot,  who 
began  his  career  as  a  midshipman  in  the  '' Alge^iras,"  and  was 
wounded  at  Trafalgar.  Being  transferred  later  on  to  the  cavalry,  he 
finally,  we  are  told,  ''  covered  himself  with  glory  in  the  heroic  charges 
at  the  battle  of  the  Moskowa." 


186  THE   ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

de  la  Bretonniere.  It  was  hopeless,  though,  at  that 
stage,  even  to  try  to  make  a  further  stand.  Dis- 
masted and  nearly  knocked  to  pieces,  on  fire 
below,  with  216  officers  and  men  hors  de  combat, 
the  "Algecjiras"  had  to  haul  her  colours  down. 
She  had  borne  herself,  as  De  la  Graviere  says, 
in  a  manner  "  digne  de  sa  haute  reputation."  ^ 

To  complete  the  story,  we  have  an  eyewitness's 
account  from  a  lieutenant  of  the  "  Tonnant " : — 

•'  A  French  ship  of  eighty  guns,"  he  says,  "  with 
an  admiral's  flag  came  up,  and  poured  a  raking 
broadside  into  our  stern  which  killed  and  wounded 
forty  petty  officers  and  men,  nearly  cut  the  rudder 
in  two,  and  shattered  the  whole  of  the  stem  with 
the  quarter  galleries.  She  then,  in  the  most 
gallant  manner,  locked  her  bowsprit  in  our  star- 
board main  shrouds  and  attempted  to  board  us 
with  the  greater  part  of  her  officers  and  ship's 
company.  She  had  riflemen  in  her  tops,  who  did 
great  execution.  Our  poop  was  soon  cleared  and 
our  gallant  captain  shot  through  the  left  thigh  and 
obliged  to  be  carried  below.  During  this  time  we 
were  not  idle.  We  gave  it  to  her  most  gloriously 
with  the  starboard  and  main  deckers,  and  turned 
the  forecastle  gun,  loaded  with  grape,  on  the 
gentleman  who  wished  to  give  us  a  fraternal  hug. 
The  marines  kept  up  a  warm  destructive  fire  on 
the  boarders.     Only  one  man  made  good  his  foot- 

^  There  are  five  letters  from  officers  of  the  "  Alg^^iras  "  among  the 
archives  of  the  Ministry  of  Marine  in  Paris  ;  one  of  them  was  dictated 
by  Captain  Letourneur^  and  two  are  from  de  la  Bretonniere. 


FIGHTING   IT  OUT  AT   CLOSE  QUARTERS     187 

ing  on  our  quarter-deck,  when  he  was  pinned 
through  the  calf  of  his  right  leg  by  one  of  the  crew 
with  his  half-pike,  whilst  another  was  going  to  cut 
him  down,  which  I  prevented,  and  desired  him  to 
be  taken  to  the  cockpit.  .  .  .  Our  severe  contest 
with  the  French  admiral  lasted  more  than  half  an 
hour,  our  sides  grinding  so  much  against  each 
other  that  we  were  obliged  to  fire  the  lower-deck 
guns  without  running  them  out. 

"At  length  both  ships  caught  fire  before  the 
chess  trees,  and  our  firemen,  with  all  the  coolness 
and  courage  so  inherent  in  British  seamen,  got  the 
engine  and  played  on  both  ships,  and  finally  ex- 
tinguished the  flames,  although  two  of  them  were 
severely  wounded  in  doing  so.  At  length  we  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  her  three  lower  masts  go 
by  the  board,  ripping  the  partners  up  in  their  fall, 
as  they  had  been  shot  through  below  the  deck, 
and  carrying  with  them  all  their  sharpshooters  to 
look  sharper  in  the  next  world  ;  for  as  all  our  boats 
were  shot  through  we  could  not  save  one  of  them 
in  this.  The  crew  were  then  ordered  with  the 
second  lieutenant  to  board  her.  They  cheered, 
and  in  a  short  time  carried  her.  They  found  the 
gallant  French  Admiral  Magon  killed  at  the  foot 
of  the  poop  ladder,  and  the  captain  dangerously 
wounded.  Out  of  eight  lieutenants,  five  were 
killed  with  three  hundred  petty  officers  and  sea- 
men and  about  one  hundred  wounded.  We  left 
the  second  lieutenant  and  sixty  men  in  charge  of 


188  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

her  and  took  some  of  the  prisoners  on  board  when 
she  swung  clear  of  us.  We  had  pummelled  her  so 
handsomely  that  fourteen  of  her  lower-deck  guns 
were  dismounted  and  her  larboard  bow  exhibited  a 
mass  of  splinters."^ 

^  The  late  Admiral  of  the  Fleet  Sir  George  Sartorius,  who  died  in 
1885^  one  of  our  two  last  survivors  of  Trafalgar^  was  a  midshipman  in 
the  ^'  Tonnant."  He  attributed  his  ship's  success  over  the  "  Algd9iras '' 
entirely  to  superior  gunnery. 

"  She  (the  Tonnant)/'  he  says^  "  was  one  of  the  very  few,  perhaps 
one  of  the  four  or  five,  that  had  been  constantly  exercised  at  her  guns. 
At  the  battle  of  Trafalgar  a  line-of-battle  ship  ran  alongside  us,  her 
yard  got  entangled  with  our  main  rigging,  and  in  the  course  of  six- 
and-thirty  minutes,  from  the  extreme  rapidity  of  our  firing  we 
managed  to  knock  away  all  her  masts,  and  to  kill  and  wound  436  of 
her  men.  Had  we  not  been  well  exercised  at  our  guns,  I  think  the 
Frenchman  would  have  got  the  advantage  of  us.  We  had  actually  our 
engine  playing  on  her  broadside  to  put  out  the  fire  caused  by  the 
flame  of  our  guns." 


CHAPTER    XIV 

HOW  THE  "INTREPIDE''  TURNED  BACK  TO 
SAVE   THE   ADMIRAL 

EQUALLY  fine  was  the  display  made  by  the 
"Intrepide,"  Captain  Louis  Antoine  Cyprian 
Infernet,  to  give  an  heroic  officer  his  full  name. 
How  he  turned  back  from  the  van  into  the  fiercest 
of  the  fighting,  in  a  foriorn-hope  effort  to  rescue 
his  admiral  and  save  the  fortune  of  the  day ;  and 
after  that,  foiled  by  fate,  fought  his  ship  against 
tremendous  odds  until  the  "  Intr^pide,"  was  left  the 
last  resisting  French  ship  at  Trafalgar,  is  the  story 
of  a  feat  of  arms  the  memory  of  which,  from  that 
day  to  this,  has  ever  been  one  of  the  glories  of  the 
French  Navy;  one  of  whose  ships,  the  present-day 
cruiser  "  Infernet,"  in  her  name,  commemorates  it 
officially.  Even  at  the  last,  when  further  resist- 
ance was  hopeless,  with  every  mast  shot  away  and 
most  of  his  guns  disabled,  with  eight  feet  of  water 
in  the  hold  in  spite  of  the  pumps,  with  306  officers 
and  men  killed  and  wounded,  45  per  cent  of  the 
total  on  board — even  then,  though.  Captain  Infernet 
would  not  surrender,  and  his  surviving  officers  had 
to  hold  him  down  while  the  colours  were  being 
lowered.  -^ 

189 


190  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

"Ah,  que  dira  TEmpereur,"  the  brave  fellow 
exclaimed,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  "  que  dira 
FEmpereur,  moi  qui  Tavais  assure  que  je  pouvais 
encore  soutenir  dix  combats  .  .  .  et  je  me  rends 
au  premier."^  "I  have  to  ask  you  to  be  my  in- 
terpreter to  His  Imperial  Majesty,"  wrote  Infernet 
on  the  day  after  Trafalgar  to  the  Minister  of 
Marine,  "  in  expressing  to  him  my  deep  sorrow  at 
having  lost  the  ship  that  was  entrusted  to  me  by 
him,  which  I  had  sworn  to  defend  to  the  death. 


CAPTAIN  INFERNET  S  SIGNATURE 

Assure  His  Majesty  above  all  things  of  my  great 
desire  that  I  may  yet  have  an  opportunity  of 
avenging  the  honour  of  the  flag — in  any  other  post 
he  may  judge  fit  to  place  me."  On  his  return 
to  France,  six  months  after  Trafalgar,  Napoleon 
specially  sent  for  Infernet  to  St.  Cloud  and  deco- 
rated him  with  the  Grand  Cross  of  the  Legion  of 
Honour  in  the  presence  of  the  Imperial  Court,  on 
the  same  day  that  he  decorated  Lucas  of  the 
"  Redoutable  " ;  and  popular  acclaim,  exactly  as  in 

*  Quoted,  in  a  letter  dated  March,  1847,  from  Captain  the  Marquis 
Gicquel  des  Touches  to  the  Minister  of  Marine  in  Paris.  The  marquis 
was  an  enseigne  de  vaisseau  (sub-lieutenant)  in  the  ''Intrepide"  at 
Trafalgar. 


WHAT  ONE  OF  THE  OFFICERS  SAW  191 

the  case  of  Captain  Lucas,  transformed  the  name 
of  the  ship  into  an  epithet  of  distinction  for  her 
captain.  "  L'lntrepide  Infernet "  all  France  called 
him  during  the  rest  of  his  life. 

This  is  what  took  place  on  board  the  "  Intr^pide  " 
at  Trafalgar,  as  related  in  detail  by  the  Marquis 
Gicquel  des  Touches : —  ^ 

"Their  fleet,  divided  into  two  columns,  ap- 
proached us  before  the  wind,  a  breeze  from  the 
west,  and  led  by  the  two  vice-admirals.  Nelson 
and  Collingwood,  whose  flags  flew  at  the  head  of 
each  line  in  the  three-deckers  Victory  and  Royal 
Sovereign. 

"  This  method  of  engaging  battle  was  contrary 
to  ordinary  prudence,  for  the  British  ships,  reach- 
ing us  one  by  one  and  at  a  very  slow  speed,  seemed 
bound  to  be  overpowered  in  detail  by  our  superior 
forces ;  but  Nelson  knew  his  own  fleet — and  ours. 


"At  the  same  moment  that  the  Victory  came 
into  action  with  the  Bucentaure  and  the  Santisima 
Trinidad,  the  column  of  Admiral  Collingwood 
engaged  our  rear  division  and  the  entire  fleet 
disappeared  from  our  sight,  blotted  out  by  the 
smoke, 

"  The  leading  division,  however,  although  not  a 
single  British  ship  threatened  it,  remained  inactive. 

*  **  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes/'  July,  1906.  *'  Souvenirs  d'un  Marin 
de  la  Republique. " 


192  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

Our  captain,  Infemet,  with  his  eyes  fixed  on  the 
Formidable,  expected  Admiral  Dumanoir  every 
moment  to  make  the  signal  to  go  about  and  take 
part  in  the  battle.  But  no  signal  went  up.  Time 
passed,  and  the  van  division  slowly  drew  off  from 
where  the  fighting  was  going  on :  it  became  soon 
but  too  plain  that  its  chief  was  keeping  out  of  the 
battle.  Admiral  Villeneuve,  meanwhile,  while  he 
still  had  a  mast  standing  on  which  to  hoist  a 
signal,  was  ordering  our  ships  to  put  about  and 
come  into  action.  Undoubtedly,  owing  to  the 
lightness  of  the  wind  and  the  swell,  the  evolution 
was  a  slow  and  difficult  one ;  but  it  might  at  least 
have  been  attempted.  I  have  to  admit,  to  the 
shame  of  the  van  division,  that  no  effort  was  made 
by  them  to  obey  Admiral  Villeneuve's  signals. 
And  I  saw  the  Mont  Blanc,  the  Duguay  Trouin, 
and  the  Scipion,  following  in  the  wake  of  the 
Formidable  and  drawing  off  slowly  without  having 
received  a  single  shot. 

"Happily  Captain  Infernet  took  another  view 
of  his  duty,  and  his  honour.  Although  we  were 
immediately  under  the  orders  of  M.  Dumanoir,  we 
had  already  made  several  unsuccessful  attempts  to 
put  about ;  but  the  wind  had  been  entirely  stilled 
by  the  cannonading  and  the  very  heavy  ground 
swell,  presage  of  an  approaching  storm,  made  it 
difficult  for  the  ship  to  answer  the  helm.  In  the 
end,  though,  after  incessant  efforts  and  by  the  aid 
of  the  only  boat  we  had  available,  we  were  able  to 


"HEAD  FOR  THE   BUCENTAURE!"  193 

wear  round,  whereupon  the  captain  called  out  in  a 
resounding  voice,  '  Lou  capo  sur  lou  Bucentaure ! ' 
(Lay  her  head  for  the  Bucentaure.)  It  was  now 
the  hottest  moment  of  the  battle. 

"We  could  hardly  make  out,  in  the  midst  of  the 
smoke  and  confusion  of  the  battle,  the  situa- 
tion of  our  flagship,  surrounded  as  she  was  by 
the  enemy,  and  having  near  her  only  the  Redout- 
able,  a  small  74,  crushed  by  the  overpower- 
ing mass  of  the  Victory,  but  still  resisting  with 
such  heroism  that  they  even  tried  to  carry  by 
boarding  Nelson's  own  ship.  At  all  points  the 
British  had  the  advantage  of  numbers  over  us. 
Not  one  of  them  was  idle,  and  the  advantage  of 
an  attack  from  windward  permitted  them  to  place 
themselves  wherever  their  presence  was  neces- 
sary— paying  no  heed  to  our  ships  to  leeward. 
These  could  not  take  part  in  the  battle  except  from 
afar  and  must  of  necessity  succumb  in  detail  and 
ineffectively.  And  more  than  that.  The  enemy's 
superiority  in  gunnery  was  so  great  that,  in  a 
very  short  time,  our  crews  were  decimated,  whilst 
on  the  British  side  the  losses  were  comparatively 
trivial. 

"  When  at  length  we  drew  near  where  the 
Bucentaure  and  the  Redoutable  lay,  their  masts 
had  fallen,  their  fire  was  almost  silenced ;  yet  the 
heroism  of  those  on  board  kept  up  an  unequal  and 
hopeless  struggle,  fighting  against  ships  that  were 
practically  undamaged,  from  the  ports  of  which 


194^  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

broadside  after  broadside  flashed  incessantly.  It 
was  into  the  thick  of  this  fray  that  our  Captain 
Infernet  led  us.  He  wanted,  he  said,  to  rescue 
Admiral  Villeneuve  and  take  him  on  board,  and 
then  to  rally  round  ourselves  the  ships  that  were 
still  in  a  fit  state  to  fight.  It  was  a  reckless 
and  forlorn  hope,  a  mad  enterprise ;  and  he  him- 
self could  not  doubt  it.  It  was  the  pretext  Infernet 
gave  for  continuing  the  fight.  He  would  not  have 
it  said  that  the  Intrepide  had  quitted  the  battle 
while  she  still  could  fight  a  gun  or  hoist  a  sail.  It 
was  noble  madness,  but,  though  we  knew  it,  we 
aU  supported  him  with  joyful  alacrity : — and  would 
that  others  had  imitated  his  example  ! 

"  We  had  soon  the  honour  of  drawing  on  us  a 
number  of  the  enemy : — the  Leviathan,  the  Africa, 
the  Agamemnon,  the  Orion,  the  Temeraire  (?  the 
Britannia)  of  100  guns.  They  all  set  on  us  fiercely, 
and  when,  after  five  in  the  evening,  we  had  to 
lower  our  colours,  the  only  flag  on  our  side  that 
still  flew,  the  Intrepide  had  not  a  lower  mast  left 
standing.  She  had  lost  two-thirds  of  her  men 
and  was  lying  riddled  with  shot-holes ;  the  port- 
lids  torn  away;  and  with  water  pouring  in  below 
everywhere.  Our  honour,  however,  was  saved ; 
our  work  had  been  done,  our  duty  fulfilled  to  the 
uttermost. 

"  I  passed  the  whole  time  of  the  battle  on  the 
forecastle,  where  I  had  charge  of  the  head  sails 


WHY   THEY   DID   NOT   BOARD  195 

and  of  the  musketry  and  the  boarders.  To  lead 
my  boarders  was  throughout  my  most  ardent 
desire,  which  unhappily  I  could  not  realize.  What 
took  much  of  my  attention  was  to  prevent  the 
masts  and  yards  from  coming  down,  and  I  was 
able  to  keep  the  foremast  standing  for  a  consider- 
able time,  by  means  of  which  we  were  able  to 
manoeuvre  the  ship  to  some  extent.  While  the 
fighting  was  very  hot,  the  British  Orion  crossed 
our  bows  in  order  to  pour  in  a  raking  fire.  I  got 
my  men  ready  to  board,  and  pointing  out  to  a 
midshipman  her  position  and  what  I  wanted  to  do, 
I  sent  him  to  the  captain  with  a  request  to  have 
the  ship  laid  on  board  the  Orion.  I  saw  to  the 
rest,  and  seeing  the  ardour  of  my  men,  I  already 
imagined  myself  master  of  the  British  seventy- 
four  and  taking  her  into  Cadiz  with  her  colours 
under  ours  1  With  keen  anxiety  I  waited ;  but 
there  was  no  change  in  the  Intrepide's  course. 
Then  I  dashed  off  for  the  quarter-deck  myself.  On 
my  way  I  found  my  midshipman  lying  flat  on  the 
deck,  terrified  at  the  sight  of  the  Temeraire 
(?  Britannia),  which  ship  had  come  abreast  of  us 
within  pistol-shot  and  was  thundering  into  us  from 
her  lofty  batteries.  I  treated  my  emissary  as  he 
deserved  —  I  gave  him  a  hearty  kick — and  then 
I  hurried  aft  to  explain  my  project  personally  to 
the  captain.  It  was  then,  though,  too  late.  The 
Orion  swept  forward  across  our  bows,  letting  fly  a 


196  THE  ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

murderous  broadside — and  no  second  chance  pre- 
sented itself. 

"  At  the  moment  I  reached  the  poop  the  brave 
Infernet  was  brandishing  a  small  curved  sabre 
which  struck  off  one  of  the  pieces  of  wooden  orna- 
mental work  by  the  rail.  The  sword-blade  went 
quite  close  to  my  face,  and  I  said  laughingly,  '  Do 
you  want  to  cut  my  head  off.  Captain  ? '  '  No,  cer- 
tainly not  you,  my  friend,'  was  the  reply, '  but  that's 
what  I  mean  to  do  to  the  first  man  who  speaks  to 
me  of  surrender.'  Near  by  was  a  gallant  colonel 
of  infantry,  who  had  distinguished  himself  at 
Marengo.  He  was  terribly  perturbed  at  the  broad- 
side from  the  Temeraire  (?  Britannia).  In  vain 
he  tried  to  dodge  and  shelter  behind  the  stalwart 
form  of  the  captain,  who  at  length  saw  what  he 
was  doing.  '  Ah,  Colonel,'  called  out  the  captain, 
'  do  you  think  I  am  sheathed  in  metal  then  ? '  In 
spite  of  the  gravity  of  the  moment  we  could  not 
keep  from  laughing. 

"  But  by  now,  indeed,  the  decks  had  been  almost 
swept  clear;  our  guns  were  disabled,  and  the 
batteries  heaped  up  with  dead  and  dying.  It  was 
impossible  to  keep  up  a  resistance  which  meant 
the  doom  of  what  remained  of  our  brave  ship's 
company,  and  ourselves,  without  the  means  of 
striking  back  and  inflicting  harm  on  the  enemy. 
Our  flag  was  hauled  down.  It  had  been  for  some 
time  the  last  flag  to  fly  in  our  part  of  the  battle, 


WHAT   INFERNET   HIMSELF  SAID  197 

and  I  believe  after  us  no  other  French  or  Spanish 
ship  maintained  resistance."^ 

This  is  an  extract  from  Captain  Infemet's  own 
report  to  Admiral  Villeneuve,  drawn  up  in  Eng- 
land and  forwarded  later  to  the  Minister  of  Marine 
in  Paris : — 

"  Je  fus  coupe  par  deux  vaisseaux  ennemis,  qui 
commencerent  a  me  cannoner.  Je  les  approchais 
etk2  heures  je  commen^ai  a  les  combattre  de  tres 
pr^s.  Demi-heure  apres  je  fus  combattu  par  trois 
et  de  tres  pres ;  a  3  heures  par  quatre ;  a  un  quart 
par  cinq.  Je  faisais  feu  des  deux  bords  et  meme 
des  canons  de  retraite,  le  combat  ^tait  des  plus 

1  Lieutenant  Gicquel  des  Touches  describes  also  how  he  was  sent 
to  England  and  interned  with  Admiral  Dumanoir  and  a  number  of 
the  French  Trafalgar  officers  at  Tiverton  in  Devonshire—"  une  petite 
ville,  assez  plaisante  mais  qui  me  parut  singulierement  monotone." 
He  says  everybody  was  kind  and  hospitable  to  them,  and  some  even 
offered  to  help  them  to  escape.  In  particular  he  mentions  a  young 
Tiverton  lady,  '*  une  jeune  et  jolie  mees,"  who  offered  to  escape  with 
him  if  he  would  marry  her  on  getting  to  France.  He  refused  the 
tempting  offer  with  difficulty,  he  says,  and  waited  six  years  till  he  was 
regularly  exchanged  through  the  good  offices  of  Lord  Northesk  of  the 
''Britannia"  at  Trafalgar.  The  house  where  Admiral  Dumanoir 
lodged  at  Tiverton  used  to  be  pointed  out,  as  well  as  the  walk  in  the 
neighbourhood,  "Frenchman's  mile,"  where  the  admiral  and  his 
brother  officers  interned  with  him  at  Tiverton  were  accustomed  to  take 
their  daily  "constitutional."  Ordinarily  the  only  restrictions  on  their 
liberty  in  this  regard  were  that  they  had  to  be  within  the  turnpike 
gates  by  8  p.m.  in  the  summer  time  and  four  in  the  winter,  when  the 
warning  bell  was  rung  from  St.  George's  Church.  It  was  from 
Tiverton  that  Admiral  Dumanoir  took  the  peculiar  step,  for  a  prisoner 
of  war,  of  writing  a  letter  to  the  "  Times  "  to  protest  against  certain 
reflections  on  his  conduct  in  the  battle  that  had  appeared  in  the  papers, 
and  gave  his  own  version  of  the  part  he  had  played  at  Trafalgar,  quoted 
on  another  page. 


198  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

opiniatres.  .  .  .  Plus  tard,  je  fus  entour^  par  sept 
vaisseaux,  qui  tous  me  faisaient  feu  dessus."  ^ 

"  I  cannot  give  too  high  praise,"  wrote  Admiral 
Villeneuve  from  England  to  the  Minister  of 
Marine, "  to  the  courage  that  the  officers  and  crew 
of  the  Intrepide  displayed  in  so  unequal  a  contest, 
and  above  all  to  the  perseverance  of  the  captain, 
who,  undoubtedly  foreseeing  for  some  time  the 
issue  of  the  battle,  still  held  out  until  his  ship  was 
reduced  to  the  very  last  extremity." 

The  story  of  the  "  Intrepide's  "  doings  at  Trafal- 
gar grew  as  time  went  on,  until  there  had  come 
into  existence  quite  a  legend  about  the  ship,  almost 
as  touching  in  its  way  as  that  of  Barrere's  story  of 
the  last  moments  of  the  "  Vengeur  "  and  "  its  glori- 
ous suicidal  sinking."  Infernet,  it  was  popularly 
reported  in  France,  after  firing  until  his  ship  was 
plainly  on  the  point  of  going  down  under  the  feet 
of  the  men  at  the  guns,  heroically  sent  off  all  the 
wounded  in  the  boats,  and  then,  when  he  could  do 
no  more,  as  the  ship  was  actually  foundering,  he 
saved  himself  by  swimming  on  board  an  English 
ship,  with  his  son,  a  boy,  seated  on  his  shoulders. 
The  "  Intrepide,"  as  a  fact,  was  one  of  the  prizes 
disposed  of  during  the  storm  after  the  battle.  She 
was  set  on  fire  and  destroyed  by  CoUingwood's 
order,  a  week  after  the  battle. 

1  Archives  de  la  Marine.  BB^^  237  : — Rapport  du  Cape  Infernet ; 
3  Brum.  An  14. 


A  FINE  TRIBUTE  FROM  A  BRITISH  OFFICER     199 

A  British  officer  in  the  "  Conqueror "  (Lieu- 
tenant Humphrey  Le  Fleming  Senhouse),  in  a 
letter  home,  thus  testifies  to  the  stubborn  way  in 
which  the  "  Intrepide  "  was  fought :  "  Her  captain 
surrendered  after  one  of  the  most  gallant  defences 
I  ever  witnessed.  The  Frenchman's  name  was 
Infemet,  a  member  of  the  Legion  of  Honour,  and  it 
deserves  to  be  recorded  in  the  memory  of  those 
who  admire  true  heroism.  The  Intrepide  was  the 
last  ship  that  struck  her  colours,  about  half-past 
five  (sic)" 


Captain  Infernet,  with  his  son,  a  midshipman 
ten  years  old,  was  taken  on  board  the  "Orion," 
where  every  kindness  and  courtesy  possible,  and 
the  due  of  so  brave  and  gallant  an  officer,  was 
shown  him.  This  is  what  Captain  Codrington  said 
of  him,  writing  home  to  his  wife,  whom  he  spe- 
cially asked  to  go  and  see  Infemet  on  his  reaching 
England,  and  do  all  she  could  for  him  while  a 
prisoner  of  war  (which  she  did,  also  having  Infemet 
over  to  stay  as  an  honoured  guest  at  her  husband's 
house) : — 

"  He  is  much  like  us  in  his  open  manner,  is  a 
good  sailor,  and  I  have  no  doubt  a  good  officer, 
has  more  delicacy  in  his  conduct,  although,  per- 
haps, boisterous  in  his  manner,  than  any  French- 
man I  have  before  met  with:  and  endeavours  to 


200  THE   ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

make  himself  agreeable  to  all  in  the  ship.  He 
fought  most  stoutly,  and  had  I  not  had  the 
advantage  over  him  of  position  and  a  ready  fire 
whilst  he  was  engaged  with  others,  we  should  not 
have  escaped  as  well  as  we  did." 

Captain  Infernet  came  on  board  the  "  Orion  " 
with  only  the  clothes  he  stood  in.  All  else  was  lost 
in  the  subsequent  destruction  of  the  "  Intrepide." 
Codrington  advanced  him  £100  on  leaving  the 
"  Orion " ;  and  at  the  same  time  another  British 
captain,  Ben  Hallowell,  of  the  "Tigre,"  did  the 
same,  sending  Infernet  the  money  as  a  personal  gift, 
together  with  a  trunk  full  of  shirts  and  clothing 
"in  acknowledgement  of  the  great  courtesy  and 
kindness  that  he  himself  had  received  from 
Admiral  Gantheaume  and  his  officers,  when  a 
prisoner." 

This  was  the  more  chivalrous,  as  Hallowell 
was  one  of  the  squadron  that  Nelson  had 
sent  to  Gibraltar  before  Trafalgar,  causing  them 
just  to  miss  the  battle,  to  their  life-long  regret. 

Wrote  Mrs.  Codrington  of  Captain  Hallowell's 
action  to  a  friend :  "  I  think  nothing  of  Captain 
C's  having  given  him  an  order  to  the  same 
amount,  because  he  was  his  own  conquered  op- 
ponent ;  but  I  do  think  it  very  fine  in  a  man  not 
even  present  in  the  action^" 

Like  so  many  others  of  the  better  men  of  the 


NOT  WANTED   BY  THE   BOURBONS  201 

Napoleonic  navy,  Infemet  was  shelved  without 
promotion  and  pensioned  off  in  1814,  on  the 
restoration  of  the  Bourbon  regime  in  France.^ 

>  A  personal  note  about  the  captain  of  the  *^  Intrepide "  may,  in 
conclusion,  be  added  to  what  has  been  already  said  of  'Tlntrepide 
Infernet."  Just  as  Lucas  of  the  "  Redoutable,"  with  his  slight 
figure  and  four  feet  nine  inches  of  height,  was  the  smallest  man  in 
the  Etat  Major  of  the  French  Fleet,  so  Infernet  was  about  the  biggest. 
One  who  knew  him  described  him  as  "grand  comme  un  tambour- 
major  et  gros  comme  un  ci-devant  prieur  des  Benedictines.''  He 
stood  five  feet  ten  in  his  socks.  A  Provencal  by  birth — he  was  born 
near  Toulon — and  of  very  humble  parentage,  he  began  his  naval  life 
as  a  cabin  boy,  and  powder-monkey  when  wanted.  He  was  rough  and 
quite  uneducated,  resembling  in  that  his  cousin  Massena  and  most  of 
the  other  chiefs  of  tlie  day.  His  speech  was  the  broadest  Proven9al : 
"  Infernet  parle  mal,  mais  il  se  bat  tres  bien,"  a  brother  officer  once 
said  of  him. 


CHAPTER    XV 

OTHERS  THAT  DESERVED  WELL  OF 
FRANCE 

"  T  7A  de  Bon  Coeur  "  Cosmao's  smart  "  Pluton  " 
'  did  well  at  Trafalgar  and  had  better  luck 
than  most  of  her  consorts.  The  "  Pluton"  lost  280 
men  out  of  600,  and  by  three  o'clock  was  so  full  of 
shot-holes  between  wind  and  water,  that,  with  all 
her  pumps  going,  she  made  upwards  of  four  feet 
of  water  an  hour.  Cosmao  Kerjulien,  in  spite  of 
that,  fought  his  ship  unflinchingly,  He  held  his 
own  and  helped  to  rescue  Admiral  Gravina's  flag- 
ship when  threatened  by  the  approach  of  a  number 
of  British  ships ;  after  which  he  made  his  way, 
with  the  eleven  ships  that  got  off  in  that  direction, 
safely  to  Cadiz. 


CAPTAIlf  COSMAO  S  SIGNATURE 


At  the  outset,  according  to  the  French  official 
account  of  the  battle,  Cosmao  beat  back  a  British 
80-gun  ship  (apparently  the  "  Mars "),  which  was 
trying  to  break  the  line  at  that  point.     Then,  as 


UNBEATEN   TO  THE   END  203 

the  British  vessel  moved  on  to  make  a  passage 
between  the  "Monarca"  and  the  "Fougueux," 
where  there  was  a  wide  gap,  Cosmao  also  pushed 
the  "  Pluton  "  ahead.  Getting  there  first,  he  again 
faced  the  "  Mars,"  and  prevented  her  from  getting 
through.  Coming  now  into  close  action  with  that 
ship,  for  upwards  of  three-quarters  of  an  hour  the 
"  Pluton  "  had  a  hot  fight  with  the  "  Mars,"  until  a 
second  British  ship,  believed  to  be  the  three-decker 
"Prince,"  came  on  the  scene.  For  some  time 
after  that  Cosmao  held  his  own,  and  then  a  third 
British  vessel,  the  80-gun  ship  "  Tonnant,"  joined 
in.  The  "Mars"  on  that  moved  off,  with  her 
fore  and  main  topmasts  shot  away,  and  soon  after- 
wards the  three-decker  passed  on,  as  did  also 
the  "Tonnant."  The  "Pluton"  next  drifted  slowly 
along  the  firing  line,  having  desultory  encounters 
with  various  British  ships,  until  after  three  o'clock. 
Cosmao  then,  seeing  that  the  day  had  been  lost, 
and  that  Gravina  was  doing  his  best  to  rally  what 
ships  were  at  hand  for  a  retreat  towards  Cadiz, 
as  senior  French  captain  in  that  quarter,  hoisted 
the  signal  for  all  French  ships  that  could  do  so,  to 
disengage  and  follow  his  movements. 

The  "  Pluton  "  accompanied  Gravina  out  of  the 
battle,  and  two  days  later  headed  the  forlorn-hope 
sortie  that  was  attempted  with  the  idea  of  re- 
covering some  of  the  prizes.  For  his  day's  work 
at  Trafalgar,  and  on  the  23rd,  Napoleon  promoted 
Cosmao    specially  to    rear-admiral,   a    promotion 


204  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

well  won.     The  King  of  Spain  at  the  same  time 
nominated  him  a  Grandee  of  the  First  Class. 

###### 

" L'Aigle  "  went  into  action  with  620  men  at  quar- 
ters. She  came  out  dismasted  and  a  British  prize, 
with  barely  enough  men  left  to  man  the  pumps. 
The  casualties  included  Captain  Gourrege,  mortally 
wounded ;  and  Second-Captain  Tempie  and  three 
lieutenants  killed.  Out  of  ten  junior  officers,  nine 
were  killed. 

The  "  Aigle's  "  fight  at  Trafalgar  was  one  of  the 
finest  on  the  side  of  the  Combined  Fleet,  and  she 
only  gave  in  when  further  defence  on  her  part  was 
hopeless,  and  the  fortune  of  the  day  had  declared 
itself  against  her  consorts  all  round.  First  of  all, 
at  the  outset,  after  a  sharp  exchange  of  broad- 
sides with  the  "Belleisle,"  the  "Aigle"  came  to 
close  quarters  with  the  "Bellerophon  " — the  famous 
"Billy  Ruff'n"  of  song  and  story — as  tough  an 
antagonist,  perhaps,  as  she  could  have  found  that 
day.  The  "  Bellerophon's  "  men  went  in  action  at 
Trafalgar,  as  one  of  her  officers  relates,  with  "  Vic- 
tory or  Death  "  chalked  on  their  guns,  and  it  was 
of  them  that  another  officer  wrote  home  on  the 
night  before  the  battle :  "  No  man  can  be  a  coward 
aboard  the  Billy  Ruff'n."  Running  alongside  the 
"  Bellerophon  "  in  the  smoke,  the  "  Aigle's  "  main- 
yard  locked  fast  with  the  foreyard  of  the  "  Bellero- 
phon" on   the   starboard    side.     The    fight    was 


BOARDING-PIKES   AND   HAND-GRENADES      205 

desperately  severe,  although  the  *' Bellerophon's " 
better  gunnery  before  long  asserted  itself,  and  got 
the  better  of  that  of  the  Frenchmen.  This  was  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  the  "  Bellerophon,"  on  her 
other  side,  on  the  port  bow  and  quarter,  was  all 
the  time  keeping  up  a  brisk  cannonade  with  three 
ships  of  the  enemy.  Then  the  "  Aigle's  "  captain 
turned  his  thoughts  to  a  desperate  attempt  with 
boarding-pikes  and  hand-grenades.  Captain  Gour- 
rege,  finding  his  gunnery  mastered,  shut  down 
his  ports,  and  crammed  his  upper  deck,  bulwarks, 
and  the  lower  shrouds,  with  the  soldiers  on  board 
and  his  seamen  musketeers.  "  L'Aigle,"  described 
a  midshipman  of  the  "Bellerophon,"  "twice  at- 
tempted to  board  us,  and  hove  several  hand- 
grenades  into  our  lower  deck,  which  burst  and 
wounded  several  of  our  people  most  dreadfully.^ 
She  likewise  set  fire  to  our  fore  chains.  Our  fire 
was  so  hot,  that  we  soon  drove  them  from  the 
lower  deck,  after  which  our  people  took  the  coins 
out,  and  elevated  their  guns  so  as  to  tear  her 
decks  and  sides  to  pieces.  .  .  .  Her  starboard  quar- 
ter was  entirely  beaten  in." 

*  "One  of  these  grenades/'  says  the  '' Bellerophon's "  first  lieu- 
tenant, "  in  its  explosion  had  blown  off  the  scuttle  of  the  gunner's 
storeroom,  setting  fire  to  the  storeroom,  and  forcing  open  the  door 
into  the  magazine  passage.  Most  providentially  this  door  was  so  placed 
....  that  the  same  blast  that  blew  open  the  storeroom  door,  shut  to 
the  door  of  the  magazine ;  otherwise  we  must  all  in  both  ships  in- 
evitably have  been  blown  up  together."  The  gunner,  with  a  few  hands 
from  the  lower  deck,  was  fortunately  able  to  get  the  fire  under  before 
it  had  spread  £ar. 


206  THE   ENEMY  AT   TRAFALGAR 

Breaking  away  from  the  "  Bellerophon,"  under 
a  terrific  raking  fire  from  that  ship,  and  very 
seriously  damaged,  the  "  Aigle  "  had  a  short  passing 
fight  with  the  "  Revenge."  It  was  the  outcome  of 
a  gallant  attempt  by  Captain  Gourrege  to  bar 
the  way  between  the  "Revenge"  and  Admiral 
Gravina's  flagship.  The  "  Revenge  "  ran  into  the 
"Aigle,"  being  entangled  with  her  for  a  short 
space,  and  then,  with  two  tremendous  broadsides 
in  rapid  succession,  shook  herself  clear,  and  passed 
on  elsewhere.  The  "  Aigle  "  was  by  now  practi- 
cally drifting ;  her  crippled  state  prevented  her 
from  making  sail. 

A  third  opponent  then  came  up,  the  "  Defiance." 
"  L'Aigle,"  says  a  memoir  of  Sir  Philip  Durham, 
the  captain  of  the  "  Defiance,"  "  appeared  to  have 
been  severely  handled  by  some  other  ship.  She 
was,  however,  quite  ready  for  action,  and  de- 
fended herself  most  gallantly  for  some  time." 

"  At  about  3  p.m.,"  says  James,^  "  the  Defiance 
ran  alongside  of  the  Aigle,  lashed  the  latter  to  her- 
self, boarded  her  with  httle  resistance,  got  posses- 
sion of  the  poop  and  quarter-deck,  hauled  down 
the  French  colours,  and  hoisted  the  English  in 
their  stead ;  when  suddenly,  so  destructive  a  fire  of 
musketry  was  opened  upon  the  boarders  from  the 
forecastle,  waist,  and  tops  of  the  Aigle,  that  the 
British,  before  they  had  been  well  five  minutes  in 
possession  of  their  prize,   were  glad  to  quit  her 

»  *' Naval  History,"  vol.  Ill,  p.  440. 


U      -7. 

i-J    Q     -^— . 
^     ^^ 

0-0   3 

U      £Z 


Q    ^ 


a     .i:  > 
Pi     c/^S 

ill 


s  I 


HEROIC   DARING   AND   FINE   CHIVALRY       207 

and  escape  back  to  their  ship.  As  soon  as  the 
lashings  were  cut  loose,  the  Defiance  sheered  off 
to  half  pistol-shot  distance,  and  there  kept  up  so 
well-maintained  a  cannonade,  that  in  less  than 
twenty-five  minutes  the  Aigle,  the  fire  from  whose 
great  guns  had  been  nobly  maintained,  was 
presently  taken  quiet  possession  of.^  .  .  .  Her  hull 
was  pierced  in  every  direction.  .  .  .  Her  loss 
amounted  to  about  270  in  killed  and  wounded,  in- 
cluding several  of  her  officers.  According  to  the 
official  return.  Captain  Gourrege  and  another 
officer  were  mortally  wounded,  and  four  officers 
were  killed.     Three  officers  were  wounded." 

In  the  course  of  the  fight  a  fine  display  of  chival- 
rous feeUng  was  shown  by  those  in  the  French 
ship,  as  related  in  a  memoir  of  Sir  John  Franklin, 
the  Arctic  explorer,  who  was  signal  midship- 
man in  the  "  Bellerophon."  "  Of  some  forty  per- 
sons stationed  with  Mr.  Franklin  on  the  poop, 
not  more  than  eight  escaped  unhurt.     Among  the 

^  In  reply  to  a  paragraph  in  a  London  newspaper,  that  "  Captain 
Blackwood  of  the  Euryalus  had  delivered  to  the  Lords  of  the  Admi- 
ralty the  Jack,  etc.,  of  the  French  ship  PAigle,"  an  officer  of  the 
"Defiance"  wrote  to  the  "Hampshire  Telegraph *'  on  the  16th  of 
December,  1806,  as  follows  : — 

"  1  beg  to  inform  yon  that  PAigle  struck  to  the  Defiance :  that 
Lieutenant  Simons  most  gallantly  boarded  her,  hauled  down  her 
colours  which  he  brought,  partly  lashed  round  his  body,  into  this 
ship,  and  then  returned  to  I'Aigle  in  aid  of  the  boarders,  and  was 
unfortunately  shot  on  her  poop.  .  .  .  The  Ensign,  Jack,  and  Pendant 
of  r Aigle  were  sent  to  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Admiralty  by 
Captain  Durham." 


208  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

fortunate  few  was  a  veteran  sailor,  named  Chris- 
topher Beaty,  yeoman  of  the  signals.  Seeing  the 
ensign  shot  away  a  third  time,  he  mounted  the 
mizen-rigging  with  the  largest  Union  Jack  he 
could  lay  his  hands  upon,  deliberately  stopped  the 
four  corners  of  it  with  as  much  spread  as  possible 
to  the  shrouds,  and  regained  the  deck  unhurt.  The 
French  riflemen  in  the  tops  and  on  the  poop  of 
TAigle,  seeing  what  he  was  about,  and  seem- 
ingly in  admiration  of  such  daring  conduct,  sus- 
pended their  fire  for  the  few  seconds  that  he 
remained  aloft ;  this  forbearance  on  the  part  of  the 
enemy  being  the  more  noble,  as  they  had  previously 
picked  off*  every  man  that  appeared  before  the 
Bellerophon's  mizen-mast."  On  our  side,  it  may 
be  said  that  the  "V.C."  has  been  given  for  less 
than  what  Christopher  Beaty  did  at  Trafalgar. 

The  French  "  Swiftsure,"  when  she  surrendered, 
was  unmanageable,  had  five  feet  of  water  in  the 
hold,  and  two  of  her  three  masts  were  down.  Two 
hundred  and  fifty-five  officers  and  men  were  hors 
de  combat. 

###### 

The  "  Berwick,"  in  like  manner,  lost  over  two 
hundred  and  fifty  of  her  company — including 
the  captain,  killed  on  his  quarter-deck — before  her 
colours  came  down.  On  her  being  taken  posses- 
sion of,  the  British  officer  sent  on  board  "  counted 


CAPTAIN,   SWORD,   AND   FLAG  209 

upon  her  decks  and  in  her  cockpit  and  tiers  51 
dead  bodies,  including  that  of  her  gallant  captain, 
M.  Camas ;  and  the  wounded  of  the  Berwick, 
according  to  the  report  of  her  few  surviving 
officers,  amounted  to  nearly  200  :  her  loss  in  officers 
was  very  severe,  the  quarter-deck  having  been 
thrice  cleared." 


This  story  is  taken  from  a  memoir  of  Captain 
Israel  Pellew,  the  captain  of  H.M.S.  "  Conqueror," 
though  the  French  ship  of  whose  surrender  it  is 
recorded  has  not  been  identified. 

"  The  remains  of  the  most  splendid  and  power- 
ful fleet  ever  drawn  up  in  a  line  of  battle  were 
now  making  their  escape  to  Cadiz,  and  the  Con- 
queror hauled  across  the  course  of  one  of  them 
which  had  only  her  foresail  set.  Her  captain 
stood  upon  the  poop,  holding  the  lower  corner  of 
a  small  French  jack,  while  he  pinned  the  upper 
with  his  sword  to  the  stump  of  the  mizen-mast. 
She  fired  two  or  three  guns,  probably  to  provoke 
a  return,  which  might  spare  the  discredit  of  a  tame 
surrender.  The  Conqueror's  broadside  was  ready ; 
but  Captain  Pellew  exclaimed,  *  Don't  hurt  the 
brave  fellow;  fire  a  single  shot  across  his  bow.' 
Her  captain  immediately  lowered  his  sword,  thus 
dropping  the  colours,  and,  taking  off  his  hat,  bowed 
his  surrender." 


210  THE  ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

Another  officer  of  the  "Conqueror"  seems  to 
refer  to  the  same  French  ship,  dealing  apparently 
with  an  incident  just  before  the  act  of  surrender. 
It  is  equally  creditable  to  both  sides.  "On  the 
stump  of  the  mainmast  of  one  of  the  enemy's 
ships  which  she  (the  Conqueror)  had  engaged  and 
dismasted,  a  man  was  seen  most  fearlessly  occupied 
in  placing  the  tricoloured  flag.  Lieutenant  Toole 
had  three  times  raised  a  musquet  to  his  shoulder 
and  levelled  it,  but  a  compassionate  and  generous 
feeling  forbade  him  to  execute  his  threat,  and  the 
gallant  fellow  was  suffered  to  live,  to  share  the  fate 
of  his,  soon  after,  captured  companions." 

[Three  reports  by  Captain  Cosmao  Kerjulien  on 
the  proceedings  of  the  "  Pluton  "  at  Trafalgar  are 
extant  in  the  archives  of  the  Ministry  of  Marine 
in  Paris,  besides  one  by  Captain  Villemadrin  of 
the  French  "  Swiftsure,"  and  one  on  the  surrender 
of  the  "  Aigle  "  by  the  senior  surviving  officer  of 
that  ship.  Lieutenant  Asmus  Classen.  There  are 
also  extant  reports  it  has  not  been  necessary  to 
utilize  from  other  officers,  including  one  from 
Captain  Maistral  of  the  "  Neptune,"  and  three 
from  Captain  Epron  of  the  "Argonaute,"  enclosing 
a  rather  curious  "Declaration"  by  the  midship- 
men of  his  ship.] 


CHAPTER  XVI 

A  MASTER-AT-ARMS'   EXPERIENCES 

ANOTHER  very  interesting  account  of  Trafal- 
-^  gar  from  the  French  side  was  found  not  very 
long  ago  among  some  manuscript  memoirs  left 
by  an  old  officer  of  Napoleon's  navy,  Captain 
Pierre  Servaux,  of  the  Marine  Artillery.  He  was 
at  Trafalgar  as  master-at-arms  of  the  "Fougueux," 
the  ship  that  fired  the  first  shot  in  the  battle. 
The  "Fougueux"  had  her  station  just  astern  of 
the  point  at  which  Collingwood  broke  through. 
By  something  of  a  coincidence,  this  was  a  corre- 
sponding position  to  that  the  "  Redoutable  "  occu- 
pied at  the  point  where  Nelson  made  his  attack. 
Also,  as  things  turned  out,  both  the  "  Fougueux  " 
and  the  "Redoutable"  surrendered  to,  and  were 
taken  possession  of  by,  the  British  "  T^meraire." 

Here  is  Captain  Servaux's  story — a  straightfor- 
ward enough  one : — 

"Daybreak  on  October  21st  found  the  French 
Fleet  in  almost  the  same  situation  that  it  had  been 
in  on  the  evening  before.  Several  of  our  ships, 
however,  had  meanwhile  drifted  off  to  leeward, 

211 


212  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

among  others  a  Spanish  hne-of-battle  which  had 
got  almost  a  league  out  of  her  proper  station. 
The  admiral  signalled  now  to  form  line  of  battle 
on  that  ship ;  but  even  then  we  did  not  in  the  end 
obtain  a  much  better  result.  The  English  Fleet, 
on  the  other  hand,  who  were  favoured  by  a  light 
breeze,  worked  together  in  much  better  order. 
They  had,  too,  the  advantage  of  being  to  wind- 
ward. With  the  greatest  ease  they  formed  them- 
selves into  two  columns,  the  one  having  at  its 
head  the  line-of-battle  ship  Victory,  of  110  guns, 
on  board  which  was  Admiral  Nelson ;  the  other 
following  the  lead  of  the  Royal  Sovereign  {Prince 
Souverain  the  writer  calls  the  ship),  also  of  110 
guns,  on  board  which  was  Admiral  CoUingwood. 
Then  the  English  Fleet  came  on  before  the  wind 
and  headed  to  break  the  line  which  had  been 
formed  in  so  irregular  a  manner  by  the  French 
and  Spanish  ships.  We  for  our  part,  mostly,  left 
too  great  intervals  between  each  ship  and  its  leader 
in  the  column. 

"  The  Fougueux,  on  board  which  I  was  master- 
at-arms,  had  for  her  immediate  leader  {chef  defile) 
the  Spanish  man-of-war  Santa  Ana,  of  110  guns. 
By  bad  handling  that  ship  left  a  gap  of  at  least  a 
cable  across,  between  herself  and  the  next  astern, 
ourselves  ;  thus  offering  the  enemy  an  easy  passage 
through.  It  was  just  on  this  point  that  Admiral 
CoUingwood  directed  his  attack,  as  he  advanced  to 
break  the  line.     It  necessarily  resulted   that  he 


A   SET-TO   WITH   COLLINGWOOD  213 

crossed  right  in  front  of  our  bows,  and  so  our  first 
antagonist  was  Admiral  CoUingwood.^ 

"  At  a  quarter  past  twelve  o'clock  the  Fougueux, 
a  man-of-war  of  seventy-four  guns,  fired  the  first 
gun  in  the  fleet.  As  she  did  so  she  hoisted  her 
colours.  She  continued  her  cannonade,  firing  on 
the  English  flagship,  which  was  a  greatly  superior 
vessel  in  size,  height,  guns  and  the  number  of 
the  crew.  Her  main-deck  and  upper-deck  guns, 
in  fact,  could  fire  right  down  on  to  our  decks,  and 
in  that  way  all  our  upper-deck  men  employed  in 
working  the  ship,  and  the  infantry  marksmen 
posted  on  the  gangways,  were  without  cover  and 
entirely  exposed.  We  had  also,  according  to  our 
bad  habit  in  the  French  Navy,  fired  away  over  a 
hundred  rounds  from  our  big  guns  at  long  range 
before  the  English  ship  had  practically  snapped  a 
gun  lock.  It  was,  indeed,  not  until  we  found 
ourselves  side  by  side  and  yardarm  to  yardarm 
with  the  English  flagship  that  she  fired  at  all. 
Then  she  gave  us  a  broadside  from  five  and  fifty 
guns  and  carronades,  hurtling  forth  a  storm  of 
cannon  balls,  big  and  small,  and  musket-shot. 

1  "The  Fougueux,  the  ship  astern  of  the  Santa  Ana,  had  closed 
up,  with  the  intention  of  preventing  the  Royal  Sovereign  from 
going  through  the  line,  and  when  Admiral  Collingwood  observed  it, 
he  desired  Captain  Rotheram  to  steer  immediately  for  the  French- 
man and  carry  away  his  bowsprit.  To  avoid  this,  the  Fougueux 
backed  her  main  topsail,  and  suffered  the  Royal  Sovereign  to  pass, 
at  the  same  time  beginning  her  fire,  when  the  admiral  ordered  a 
gun  to  be  occasionally  fired  at  her,  to  cover  his  ship  with  smoke/' — 
"  Correspondence  and  Memoirs  of  Lord  Collingwood,"  G.  L.  Newnham 
Collingwood,  p.  126. 


214.  THE  ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

"I  thought  the  Fougueux  was  shattered  to 
pieces — pulverized.  The  storm  of  projectiles  that 
hurled  themselves  against  and  through  the  hull  on 
the  port  side  made  the  ship  heel  to  starboard. 
Most  of  the  sails  and  the  rigging  were  cut  to 
pieces,  while  the  upper  deck  was  swept  clear  of 
the  greater  number  of  the  seamen  working  there, 
and  of  the  soldier  sharpshooters.  Our  gun-decks 
below  had,  however,  suffered  less  severely.  There, 
not  more  than  thirty  men  in  all  were  put  hors  de 
combat.  This  preliminary  greeting,  rough  and 
brutal  as  it  was,  did  not  dishearten  our  men.  A 
well-maintained  fire  showed  the  Englishmen  that 
we  too  had  guns  and  could  use  them. 

"  The  English  ship  having  come  up  to  us,  made 
to  break  the  line  between  us  and  the  Santa  Ana. 
The  Spanish  ship,  in  fact,  during  our  action  with 
the  English  leader,  had  not  fired  a  single  shot. 
She  had  stolidly  kept  on  and  continued  her 
course  without  shortening  sail,  thus  giving  an  easy 
passage  through  to  the  enemy.  After  that,  how- 
ever, by  the  smart  handling  of  our  captain,  we 
managed  to  come  within  our  proper  distance  of 
her;  as  a  fact,  indeed,  almost  with  our  bow- 
sprit over  his  poop.  By  this  manoeuvre  we  had 
the  enemy's  ship  on  the  port  quarter  in  such  a 
way  that  whilst  we  could  only  receive  a  few  shots 
from  their  stem  guns,  they  were  exposed  to  our 
whole  broadside,  raking  the  enemy,  end-on,  along 
all  his  decks.     We  soon  saw  the  EngUsh  vessel's 


3:    .2 


STILL   HOLDING  THEIR  OWN 


215 


mizen-mast  go  by  the  board,  and  then  her  rudder 
and  steering  gear  were  damaged,  making  the  ship 
unmanageable.  Her  sails  flapped  loose  in  the 
wind,  and  her  sheets  and  running  rigging  were  cut 
to  pieces  by  our  hail  of  shot. 
For  some  time  she  ceased 
firing.  We,  for  our  part, 
now  redoubled  our  efforts 
and  we  next  saw  her  main- 
topmast  come  down.  At 
that  moment  the  English 
ship  hoisted  two  signal  flags 
at  the  foremast.  It  made 
us  think  that  she  was  call- 
ing for  help.  And  we  were 
not  wrong.  After  a  very 
little  time  two  fresh  English 
men-of-war  came  up  and 
began  to  attack  us  ;  the  one 
on  the  starboard  quarter, 
the  other  at  the  stern. 
Under  their  fire,  we  held 
out  for  more  than  an  hour, 
but  they  almost  over- 
powered us  with  their 
terrible  storm  of  round 
shot  and  a  fusillade  of  bullets  which  carried  death 
among  our  men. 

"Our  mizen-mast  was  now  shot  by  the  board, 
while  our  spars  were  shot  from  the  masts  and  were 


FRENCH   MAN-OF-WAR  S  MAN 
1805 


216  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

lying  in  wreckage  along  the  sides  of  the  ship. 
Then,  too,  fire  broke  out  in  the  stem  walk  and  the 
poop.  We  tried  our  best,  in  spite  of  the  hail  of 
shot,  to  put  the  fire  out,  and  with  hatchets  to  cut 
adrift  the  mass  of  wrecked  top-hamper  from  the 
fallen  masts  and  yards  and  cordage.  It  lay  along 
the  ship's  sides  by  the  gun-tiers  and  was  en- 
dangering the  ship  and  exposing  her  to  the  most 
imminent  risk  of  destruction  by  fire.  At  this 
moment  the  captain  ordered  me  to  climb  outboard 
and  see  if  the  wreckage  of  the  mainsail  was 
not  in  danger  of  being  set  on  fire  from  the  main- 
deck  guns.  I  obeyed  ;  but  as  I  clambered  from  the 
gangway  into  the  chains  one  of  the  enemy  fired 
her  whole  starboard  broadside.  The  din  and 
concussion  were  fearful;  so  tremendous  that  I 
almost  fell  headlong  into  the  sea.  Blood  gushed 
from  my  nose  and  ears,  but  it  did  not  prevent  my 
carrying  out  my  duty.  Then  our  mainmast  fell. 
Happily  it  was  shot  through  some  ten  or  twelve 
feet  above  the  deck  and  fell  over  to  port.  At 
once  we  cut  away  the  shrouds  to  starboard  ;  but  it 
was  with  great  difficulty  that  in  the  end  we  were 
able  to  clear  ourselves. 

"Our  fire  was  well  maintained  all  this  time: 
though  the  great  superiority  of  the  heavy  guns  of 
the  English  ships,  and  their  very  advantageous 
position,  decimated  our  men  in  a  fearful  manner. 
More  than  half  the  crew  had  by  this  been  struck 
down,  killed  or  wounded.   Then,  at  length,  our  last 


FIGHTING   IT   OUT   MAN   TO   MAN  217 

remaining  mast  went;  falling  forward  on  to  the 
fore  part  of  the  ship.  Our  flag,  however,  was  still 
flying.  It  was  the  only  thing  left  above  the  deck. 
All  the  same,  neither  our  brave  captain,  nor  a 
single  one  of  our  men,  had  a  thought  of  lowering  it. 
"Now,  however,  yet  another  EngUsh  ship,  the 
T^m^raire,  of  100  guns,  came  down  to  attack  us. 
Borne  down  alongside  of  us  with  the  current,  she 
fell  on  board  us.  At  once  a  broadside  burst  from 
her  upper-deck  guns  and  main  battery,  with  a  hot 
small-arms  fusillade,  fired  right  down  into  us.  It 
swept  our  decks  clear.  Even  then,  though,  our  men 
rallied.  With  cries  of  '  a  Tabordage  I '  repeated 
all  over  the  ship,  some  sixty  to  eighty  of  them 
swarmed  up  on  deck,  armed  with  sabres  and 
axes.  But  the  huge  English  three-decker  towered 
high  above  the  Fougueux,  and  they  fired  down  on 
us  as  they  pleased  with  their  musketry,  until,  at 
length,  they  themselves  boarded  us.  From  two 
to  three  hundred  of  them  suddenly  rushed  on  board 
us,  entering  the  ship  from  their  chains  and  main- 
deck  ports.  Our  captain  fell  dead,  shot  through 
the  heart  with  a  musket  bullet.  The  few  men 
who  were  left  could  make  no  resistance  in  the  face 
of  numbers.  Resistance  was  out  of  the  question, 
while  still  the  enemy's  murderous  fire  from  the 
gangways  continued.  We  were  obliged  to  give 
back  and  yield,  though  we  defended  the  decks  port 
by  port.  So  the  Fougueux  fell  into  the  power  of 
the  English. 


218  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

"  Yet  we  had  in  the  end  the  proud  consolation  of 
not  hauling  down  our  own  colours.  The  doing 
that  we  left  to  the  enemy,  who  carried  the  colours 
off  after  they  had  taken  possession  of  the  ship. 
Thus  ended  one  of  the  most  murderous  of  battles. 
For  nearly  four  hours  we  had  not  ceased  firing 
once,  and  at  the  same  time  we  had  stood  up  against 
four  ships,  each  one  of  them  more  powerful  at  all 
points  than  our  Fougueux.  Indeed,  the  Fougueux 
was  a  very  weakly  built  vessel.  We  lost  in  the 
combat  our  captain,  more  than  half  the  ship's  com- 
pany, two  lieutenants,  three  mates,  two  midship- 
men, and  three  warrant  officers."^ 

[Two  official  reports  on  the  doings  and  fate 
of  the  "  Fougueux  "  at  Trafalgar,  both  by  Second- 
Captain  Bazin  of  that  ship,  are  in  existence  among 
the  archives  of  the  Ministry  of  Marine  in  Paris, 
dated  respectively  21st  and  27th  Brumaire, 
An  14.] 

*  According  to  the  returns  at  the  Ministry  of  Marine  in  Paris,  the 
'' Fougueux"  had  the  captain  and  six  lieutenants  and  army  officers 
killed  and  four  wounded. 


CHAPTER    XVII 

JEANNETTE   OF  THE   "ACHILLE" 

IASTLY  among  the  French  ships  we  have  the 
^  catastrophe  of  the  French  "Achille."  Coming 
into  action  about  two  o'clock,  when  the  "  Polyphe- 
mus "  attacked  her,  she  engaged  in  turn  after  that 
the  "Defiance"  and  the  "  Swiftsure."  Before  three 
o'clock  the  "  Achille's  "  captain  had  fallen  and  all 
the  senior  officers.  Thenceforth  the  ship  was  fought 
by  a  sub-lieutenant,  Enseigne  de  vaisseau  Cau- 
chard.  The  gallant  young  fellow  was  doing  well, 
and  had  just  extricated  the  ship  from  her  earlier 
opponents,  when,  between  three  and  half-past,  a 
bigger  enemy  still  came  up,  the  three-decker 
"Prince."  By  this  time  the  "Achille"  had  lost 
over  four  hundred  killed  and  wounded.  Still, 
though,  she  fought  on  stubbornly ;  until  there  was 
a  sudden  explosion  in  the  arm-chest  in  the  foretop. 
It  caused  a  fire,  which  blazed  up  fiercely  and  could 
not  be  got  under.  The  ship's  fire-engine  was 
found  to  have  been  smashed,  and  all  that  could 
be  done  was  to  cut  the  mast  away  and  let  it  drop 
overboard.  Efforts  to  do  this  were  being  made 
when  a  broadside  from  the  "Prince,"  fired  high, 

219 


220  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

shot  the  mast  in  two.  It  was  cut  through  half- 
way up ;  causing  the  blazing  top,  with  its  sails  and 
cordage,  to  fall,  a  flaming  mass,  on  the  boats  and 
spars  stowed  inboard  on  the  booms  in  the  waist. 
These  took  fire  at  once,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
the  whole  ship  was  ablaze.  On  that,  seeing  the 
French  ship  hopelessly  on  fire,  and  her  men 
beginning  to  jump  overboard,  the  "  Prince  "  ceased 
action,  and  lowered  boats  to  rescue  as  many  men 
as  possible.  Other  ships  near  by  did  the  same,  and 
the  two  Uttle  vessels  "Pickle"  and  "Entrepren- 
ante  "  ran  boldly  in  as  near  as  they  could,  regard- 
less of  shotted  guns  on  board  the  blazing  ship, 
which  went  off  as  the  heat  reached  them.  From 
two  to  three  hundred  men  were  rescued  in  all 
before  half-past  five,  just  about  sunset,  when  the 
remains  of  the  "Achille"^  blew  up.  By  then 
fighting  had  ceased  everyivhere  for  nearly  half  an 
hour.  With  the  blowing  up  of  the  "  Achille  "  the 
battle  of  Trafalgar  came  to  its  end. 

A  British  officer  of  the  "Defence"  who  was 
watching  the  burning  of  the  ill-fated  "Achille," 
and  saw  her  blow  up,  thus  describes  the  final 
scene :  "  It  was  a  sight  the  most  awful  and  grand 
that  can  be  conceived.   In  a  moment  the  hull  burst 

*  ''The  Achille,"  says  Lieutenant  Paul  Hams  Nicolas,  of  the 
"  Belleisle's  "  marines,  ''  burnt  to  the  water's  edge,  with  the  tricolour 
still  displayed,  about  a  mile  from  us,  and  our  tenders  and  boats  were 
using  every  effort  to  save  the  brave  fellows  who  had  so  gloriously 
defended  her ;  but  only  two  hundred  and  fifty  were  rescued  when  she 
blew  up  with  a  tremendous  explosion." 


THEIR   ONLY   CHANCE   FOR  LIFE  221 

into  a  cloud  of  smoke  and  fire.  A  column  of  vivid 
flame  shot  up  to  an  enormous  height  in  the  atmo- 
sphere and  terminated  by  expanding  into  an  im- 
mense globe,  representing,  for  a  few  seconds,  a 
prodigious  tree  in  flames,  speckled  with  many  dark 
spots,  which  the  pieces  of  timber  and  bodies  of 
men  occasioned  while  they  were  suspended  in  the 
clouds." 

A  very  remarkable  incident  is  on  record  in  con- 
nexion with  the  burning  of  the  "  Achille." 

One  of  those  rescued  by  the  British  boats 
was  a  young  Frenchwoman.  The  story  of  her 
extraordinary  escape  is  thus  told  in  the  words  of  a 
lieutenant  of  the  "  Revenge,"  on  board  which  ship 
the  woman  was  taken : — 

*' Towards  the  conclusion  of  the  battle  the 
French  80-gun  ship  Achille,  after  surrendering, 
caught  fire  on  the  booms.  The  poor  fellows  be- 
longing to  her,  as  the  only  chance  of  saving  their 
lives,  leaped  overboard,  having  first  stripped  off* 
their  clothes,  that  they  might  be  the  better  able  to 
swim  to  any  pieces  of  floating  wreck  or  to  the 
boats  of  the  ships  sent  by  those  nearest  at  hand  to 
their  rescue.  As  the  boats  filled,  they  proceeded 
to  the  Pickle  schooner,  and,  after  discharging  their 
freight  into  that  vessel,  returned  for  more.  The 
schooner  was  soon  crowded  to  excess,  and,  there- 
fore, transferred  the  poor  shivering  wretches  to 
any  of  the  large  ships  near  her.     The  Revenge,  to 


222  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

which  ship  I  belonged,  received  nearly  a  hundred 
of  the  number,  some  of  whom  had  been  picked  up 
by  our  own  boats,  Many  of  them  were  badly 
wounded,  and  all  naked.  No  time  was  lost  for 
providing  for  the  latter  want,  as  the  purser  was 
ordered  immediately  to  issue  to  each  man  a  com- 
plete suit  of  clothes. 

"  On  the  morning  after  the  action  I  had  charge 
of  the  deck,  the  other  officers  and  crew  being  at 
breakfast,  when  another  boat  load  of  these  poor 
prisoners  of  war  came  alongside,  all  of  whom,  with 
one  exception,  were  in  the  costume  of  Adam.  The 
exception  I  refer  to  was  apparently  a  youth,  but 
clothed  in  an  old  jacket  and  trousers,  with  a  dingy 
handkerchief  tied  round  the  head,  and  exhibiting 
a  face  begrimed  with  smoke  and  dirt,  without 
shoes,  stockings,  or  shirt,  and  looking  the  picture 
of  misery  and  despair.  The  appearance  of  this 
young  person  at  once  attracted  my  attention,  and 
on  asking  some  questions  on  the  subject,  I  was 
answered  that  the  prisoner  was  a  woman.  It  was 
sufficient  to  know  this,  and  I  lost  no  time  in  intro- 
ducing her  to  my  messmates,  as  a  female  requiring 
their  compassionate  attention.  The  poor  creature 
was  almost  famishing  with  hunger,  having  tasted 
nothing  for  four-and-twenty  hours,  consequently 
she  required  no  persuasion  to  partake  of  the  break- 
fast upon  the  table.  I  then  gave  her  up  my  cabin, 
for  by  this  time  the  bulk-head  had  been  replaced, 
and  made  a  collection  of  all  the  articles  which 


TRAPPED   BETWEEN   FLAMES   AND    MAGAZINE     223 

could  be  procured  to  enable  her  to  complete  a 
more  suitable  wardrobe.  One  of  the  lieutenants 
gave  her  a  piece  of  sprigged  blue  muslin,  which  he 
had  obtained  from  a  Spanish  prize,  and  two  new 
checked  shirts  were  suppUed  by  the  purser ;  these, 
with  a  purser's  blanket,  and  my  ditty  bag,  which 
contained  needles,  thread,  etc.,  being  placed  at  her 
disposal,  she,  in  a  short  time,  appeared  in  a  very 
different,  and  much  more  becoming,  costume. 
Being  a  dressmaker,  she  had  made  herself  a  sort  of 
a  jacket,  after  the  Flemish  fashion,  and  the  purser's 
shirts  she  had  transformed  into  an  outer  petticoat ; 
she  had  a  silk  handkerchief  tastily  tied  over  her 
head,  and  another  thrown  round  her  shoulders; 
white  stockings  and  a  pair  of  the  chaplain's  shoes 
were  on  her  feet,  and,  altogether,  our  guest,  which 
we  unanimously  voted  her,  appeared  a  very  in- 
teresting young  woman. 

" '  Jeannette,'  which  was  the  only  name  by  which 
I  ever  knew  her,  thus  related  to  me  the  circum- 
stances. She  said  she  was  stationed  during  the 
action  in  the  passage  of  the  fore-magazine,  to 
assist  in  handing  up  the  powder,  which  employ- 
ment lasted  till  the  surrender  of  the  ship.  When 
the  firing  ceased,  she  ascended  to  the  lower  deck, 
and  endeavoured  to  get  up  to  the  main  deck,  to 
search  for  her  husband,  but  the  ladders  having 
been  all  removed,  or  shot  away,  she  found  this 
impracticable ;  and  just  at  this  time  an  alarm  of 
fire  spread  through  the  ship,  so  that  she  could  get 


224  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

no  assistance.  The  fire  originated  upon  the  upper 
deck,  and  gradually  burnt  downwards.  Her  feel- 
ings upon  this  occasion  cannot  be  described:  but 
death  from  all  quarters  stared  her  in  the  face.  The 
fire,  which  soon  burnt  fiercely,  precluded  the  possi- 
bility of  her  escaping  by  moving  from  where  she 
was,  and  no  friendly  counsellor  was  by  with  whom 
to  advise.  She  remained  wandering  to  and  fro 
upon  the  lower  deck,  among  the  mangled  corses 
of  the  dying  and  the  slain,  until  the  guns  from  the 
main  deck  actually  fell  through  the  burnt  planks. 
Her  only  refuge,  then,  was  the  sea,  and  the  poor 
creature  scrambled  out  of  the  gun-room  port,  and, 
by  the  help  of  the  rudder  chains,  reached  the  back 
of  the  rudder,  where  she  remained  for  some  time, 
praying  that  the  ship  might  blow  up,  and  thus  put 
a  period  to  her  misery,  At  length  the  lead  which 
lined  the  rudder-trunk  began  to  melt,  and  to  fall 
upon  her,  and  her  only  means  of  avoiding  this  was 
to  leap  overboard.  Having,  therefore,  divested 
herself  of  her  clothes,  she  soon  found  herself 
struggling  with  the  waves,  and  providentially  find- 
ing a  piece  of  cork,  she  was  enabled  to  escape  from 
the  burning  mass.  A  man,  shortly  afterwards, 
swam  near  her,  and,  observing  her  distress,  brought 
her  a  piece  of  plank,  about  six  feet  in  length, 
which,  being  placed  under  her  arms,  supported  her 
until  a  boat  approached  to  her  rescue.  The  time 
she  was  thus  in  the  water  she  told  me  was  about 
two  hours,  but  probably  the  disagreeableness  and 


''HEARTS   OF   THE    RIGHT   STUFF"  225 

peril  of  her  situation  made  a  much  shorter  space 
of  time  appear  of  that  duration.  The  boat  which 
picked  her  up,  I  have  heard,  was  the  Belleisle's,  but 
her  sex  was  no  sooner  made  known  than  the  men, 
whose  hearts  were  formed  of  the  right  stuff, 
quickly  supplied  her  with  the  articles  of  attire  in 
which  she  first  made  my  acquaintance.  One 
supplied  her  with  trowsers,  another  stripped  off 
his  jacket,  and  threw  it  over  her,  and  a  third 
supplied  her  with  a  handkerchief.  She  was  much 
burnt  about  the  neck,  shoulders,  and  legs,  by  the 
molten  lead,  and  when  she  reached  the  Pickle  was 
more  dead  than  aUve.  A  story  so  wonderful  and 
pitiful  could  not  fail  to  enUst,  on  her  behalf,  the 
best  feelings  of  human  nature,  and  it  was,  there- 
fore, not  praiseworthy,  but  only  natural,  that  we 
extended  towards  her  that  humane  attention  which 
her  situation  demanded.  I  caused  a  canvas  screen 
berth  to  be  made  for  her,  to  hang  outside  the  ward- 
room door,  opposite  to  where  the  sentry  was 
stationed,  and  I  placed  my  cabin  at  her  disposal 
for  her  dressing-room. 

"  Although  placed  in  a  position  of  unlooked-for 
comfort,  Jeannette  was  scarcely  less  miserable ; 
the  fate  of  her  husband  was  unknown  to  her.  She 
had  not  seen  him  since  the  commencement  of  the 
battle,  and  he  was  perhaps  killed,  or  had  perished 
in  the  conflagration.  Still,  the  worst  was  unknown 
to  her,  and  a  possibility  existed  that  he  was  yet 
aUve.    All  her  enquiries  were,  however,  unattended 


226  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

with  success,  for  several  days,  during  which  I  was 
so  much  busied  in  securing  the  ship's  masts,  and  in 
looking  after  the  ship  in  the  gales  which  we  had  to 
encounter,  that  I  had  no  time  to  attend  to  my 
protegee.  It  was  on  about  the  fourth  day  of  her 
sojourn  that  she  came  to  me  in  the  greatest 
possible  ecstacy  and  told  me  that  she  had  found 
her  husband,  who  was  on  board  among  the 
prisoners,  and  unhurt.  She  soon  afterwards  brought 
him  to  me,  and  in  the  most  grateful  terms  and 
manner  returned  her  thanks  for  the  attentions 
she  had  received.  After  this,  Jeannette  declined 
coming  to  the  ward-room,  from  the  very  proper 
feeling  that  her  husband  could  not  be  admitted  to 
the  same  privileges.  On  our  arrival  at  Gibraltar, 
all  our  prisoners  were  landed  by  order  of  the 
Port- Admiral,  Sir  John  Knight,  at  the  Neutral 
Ground,  but  under  a  mistake,  as  the  Spanish 
prisoners  only  should  have  been  landed  there. 
Her  dress,  though  rather  odd,  was  not  unbecom- 
ing, and  we  all  considered  her  a  fine  woman.  On 
leaving  the  ship,  most,  if  not  all  of  us,  gave  her  a 
dollar,  and  she  expressed  her  thanks  as  well  as  she 
was  able,  and  assured  us  that  the  name  of  our  ship 
would  always  be  remembered  by  her  with  the 
warmest  gratitude."^ 

^  Captain  Moorsonij  of  the  *'  Revenge,"  in  a  private  letter  relates 
the  adventure  of  Jeannette ;  as  also  does  one  of  the  sailors  of  the 
''Revenge,'^  who  published  his  experiences  at  the  battle  in  a  small 
book. 


ANOTHER   WOMAN   PICKED   UP  227 

Another  French  woman  from  the  "Achille," 
was,  it  is  stated,  rescued  by  the  "  Britannia."  So 
Second-Lieutenant  Halloran,  of  the  "  Britannia's  " 
marines,  records  in  his  journal : — 

"Among  the  prisoners  brought  on  board  from 
one  of  the  ships  was  a  man  in  the  costume  and 
character  of  a  Harlequin,  pressed,  we  believe,  off 
the  stage  the  evening  previous  to  the  battle,  with- 
out having  time  to  change.  There  was  also  a 
poor  woman  saved  from  the  Achille  through  the 
gun-room  port  as  she  blew  up.  This  poor  creature 
was  brought  on  board  with  scarcely  any  covering, 
and  our  senior  subaltern  of  marines.  Lieutenant 
Jackson,  gave  her  a  large  cotton  dressing-gown 
for  clothing.  There  was  also  among  the  prisoners 
two  Turks ;  the  former  had  both  legs  amputated, 
and  both  men  died  the  same  night." 

[The  "Achille  "  was  one  of  the  newest  and  finest 
seventy-fours  in  Napoleon's  navy.  A  remarkably 
fine  model  of  her,  fully  masted  and  rigged  and 
complete  in  every  detail,  is  on  view  in  the  Musde 
de  la  Marine  at  the  Louvre,  with  a  statement 
attached  mentioning  her  fate  at  Trafalgar. 

Three  reports  on  the  disaster  to  the  "Achille," 
from  survivors  on  board,  are  among  the  archives 
of  the  Ministry  of  Marine ;  one  from  Lieutenant 
Chamard,  and  two  from  Midshipmen  Quiots  and 
La  Chasse.] 


CHAPTER    XVIII 

H.M.S.    "IMPLACABLE" 

^VTOT  a  single  one  of  the  five  French  line-of-battle 
■^^  ships  that  escaped  with  Admiral  Gravina  into 
Cadiz,  after  Trafalgar,  or  of  the  four  fugitives  that 
went  off  with  Admiral  Dumanoir,  saw  a  home 
port  again.  The  French  ships  that  got  into  Cadiz 
remained  blockaded  there  until  June,  1808.  On 
Spain  throwing  off  the  yoke  of  Napoleon,  they 
surrendered  at  discretion  to  their  quondam  allies, 
and  were  added  to  the  Spanish  Navy.  Dumanoir's 
four,  after  taking  a  wide  sweep  westward  to  avoid 
any  outlying  British  ships,  were  intercepted  and 
captured  bodily  off  Cape  Finisterre,  a  fortnight 
after  Trafalgar,  by  Sir  Richard  Strachan  and  a 
squadron  from  the  Channel  Fleet.  ^ 

One  of  the  four  ships  was  in  service  until  the 

^  Commodore  Sir  Richard  Strachan  acquired  for  himself  at  the 
same  time  a  sobriquet — which  stuck  to  him  to  the  end  of  his  days  in 
the  Navy — of  ''the  delighted  Sir  Dicky."  That  was  due  to  the  occur- 
rence in  Commodore  Strachan's  official  despatch  to  the  Admiralty  on 
the  event — after  describing  how  he  first  got  the  news  of  the  enemy's 
proximity — of  the  somewhat  unusual  expression  for  an  official  com- 
munication :  ''  We  were  delighted." 


ANXIOUSLY   WAITING,   BUT   NO   ORDERS      229 

spring  of  last  year  as  a  naval  training  ship   at 
Devonport,  under  the  name  of  the  "  Implacable."^ 

At  Trafalgar  the  ship  was  known  as  the 
"  Duguay  Trouin."  When  the  battle  opened,  she 
was  sixth  ship  astern  of  the  leader  of  the  Combined 
Fleet.  Her  first  shot  was  fired  at  the  *'  Victory," 
as  the  British  flagship  was  hauling  up  to  north- 
ward to  make  a  feint,  with  the  idea  of  holding 
Admiral  Dumanoir's  division  in  check.  Then  the 
"  Duguay  Trouin  "  fired  at  the  "  T^mdraire,"  close 
astern  of  the  "Victory,"  and  also  had  a  few 
shots  at  the  "Euryalus."  After  that  the  "  Duguay 
Trouin  "  opened  fire  at  the  "  Africa,"  then  passing 
along  the  van  of  the  Combined  Fleet  to  join 
Nelsoiii's  column ;  and  also  at  the  "Conqueror"  and 
the  "  Neptune,"  on  whom,  for  a  while,  she  kept 
up  a  long-range  cannonade.  Meantime  all  on 
board  were  anxiously  expecting  the  signal  to  be 
given  for  the  van  division  to  go  about  and  get  into 
close  action.  They  could  see  the  "Bucentaure" 
and  "  Santisima  Trinidad  "  being  hard  pressed,  and 
all  the  line  astern  of  them  hotly  engaged,  but 
no  signal  to  go  about  was  made.  It  was  not  until 
nearly  two  o'clock,  when  they  plainly  saw  the  flag- 
ship and  the  "Trinidad"  beginning  to  weaken 
and  slacken  fire,  that  the  "  Bucentaure  "  at  length 

^  For  some  years,  until  finally  paid  off,  it  was  usual  every  21st  of 
October  to  display  a  laurel  wreath  at  the  masthead  of  the  ^'Implacable" 
and  decorate  her  figure-head  also  ;  while  at  the  hoisting  of  the  colours 
at  8  a.m.  the  band  played  "The  Death  of  Nelson"  in  addition  to  the 
National  Anthem. 


230  THR   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

made  the  signal.  Then,  however,  it  was  too  late. 
The  breeze  was  so  light  that  it  took  nearly  an 
hour  before  Admiral  Dumanoir's  ships  could  get 
their  heads  round.  At  last  all  the  division  got 
about,  and  thereupon  they  moved  down  towards 
the  fight,  in  two  groups  of  five.  One  set,  the 
first  to  move  off,  comprising  the  "  San  Francisco 
de  Asisi,"  "San  Agustin,"  "Rayo,"  "Intrepide," 
and  "Heros,"  kept  to  leeward,  making  towards 
where  the  sorely  stricken  "  Bucentaure  "  lay,  with 
her  colours  down.  The  others,  Dumanoir's  flag- 
ship the  "Formidable,"  with  the  "  Scipion," 
"Duguay  Trouin,"  "Mont  Blanc,"  and  "  Neptuno," 
kept  away  to  windward.  The  first  group  were 
broken  up  almost  at  the  outset  by  some  of  the 
ships  originally  forming  the  centre  of  Nelson's 
column,  which  struck  at  them  hard  and  heavily. 
The  "Rayo"  and  "San  Francisco  de  Asisi"  made 
off  to  leeward  towards  where  Gravina,  with 
signals  flying  to  rally  on  him,  was  already  taking 
steps  for  the  retreat  of  the  remnant  of  the  Com- 
bined Fleet.  The  "  H^ros,"  the  headmost  of  all, 
threaded  her  way  through,  and,  after  losing  her 
captain  and  many  men,  managed  to  join  Gravina. 
The  "  Intr^pide,"  more  daring  than  the  rest,  stood 
in  closer,  got  separated,  and  met  her  fate,  after  a 
magnificent  defence,  as  has  been  related. 

The  "  Duguay  Trouin  "  and  her  consorts,  during 
this  time,  were  keeping  clear  and  to  windward  of 
the  firing.     They  eventually   came  opposite  the 


CAPTAIN    HARDY   AT  TRAFALGAR  231 

"  Victory,"  a  little  after  Captain  Hardy  had  paid 
his  first  visit  to  Nelson  in  the  cockpit.  It  was 
the  concussion  of  the  "Victory's"  guns,  as  they 
replied  to  the  "  Duguay  Trouin  "  and  her  consorts, 
which  drew  from  the  dying  Nelson  the  pitiful 
apostrophe  to  his  flagship:  "Oh,  Victory,  Vic- 
tory I  How  you  distract  my  poor  brain ! "  Their 
approach  it  was,  in  fact,  that  recalled  Captain 
Hardy  on  deck  and  caused  him  no  small  anxiety 
for  the  time  being.  Nelson  being  off  the  deck  and 
hors  de  combat,  Hardy,  as  captain  of  the  flagship, 
in  accordance  with  the  usage  of  the  British  Navy 
— dating  from  the  days  of  Blake,  and  in  force  to 
the  present  hour — was  virtually  in  charge  of  the 
whole  British  Fleet  until  the  battle  was  over ;  prac- 
tically the  one  man  responsible,  as  Nelson's  locum 
tenens,  for  the  successful  carrying  out  of  operations 
to  the  final  issue.  ^     Hardy's  descendants  treasure 

*  These  are  the  words  of  the  old  Official  Instruction  in  question : 
''  If  any  Officer,  wearing  a  Flag  or  broad  Pendant,  shall  happen  to  be 
slain  in  Fight  with  the  enemy,  the  said  Flag  or  Pendant  shall  never- 
theless continue  flying,  and  not  be  taken  in,  whilst  the  Enemy  is  in 
Sight ;  but  the  Admiral,  who  commands  in  Chief,  as  also  the  Flag- 
Officer,  to  whose  Squadron  or  Division  he  belonged,  shall  immediately 
be  acquainted  with  it ;  and  if  it  be  the  Commander  in  Chief  who  is 
killed,  the  next  commanding  Officer  is  to  be  forthwith  informed  of  it, 
who  shall  immediately  repair  on  board  the  Ship  of  the  deceased 
Commander,  and  give  the  necessary  orders,  leaving  his  Flag,  or  broad 
Pendant  flying  in  his  own  Ship."  At  Trafalgar,  in  the  circumstances, 
of  course,  it  was  impossible  for  Collingwood  to  come  on  board  the 
*'  Victory  "  to  assume  command  during  the  rest  of  the  battle  ;  and  we 
know  how  Nelson  would  have  taken  it  had  he  done  so,  from  Nelson's 
sharp  rebuke  to  Hardy  in  the  cockpit,  when  the  anchoring  of  the  fleet 
and  the  discretion  of  the  second  in  command  in  the  matter  was 


232  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

to  this  day  the  silver  pencil-case  that  Captain 
Hardy  "used  to  write  down  signals  during  the 
battle  of  Trafalgar,  with  the  marks  of  his  teeth  on  it 
made  in  moments  of  excitement."  It  was  exhibited 
at  the  great  Naval  Exhibition  at  Chelsea  in  1891 ; 
and  one  newspaper,  in  referring  to  it,  spoke  of  it  as 
"Something  like  a  relic." 


CAPTAIN    HARDY  S    PENCIL    CASE 

(Showing  teeth  marks  to  the  left) 


After  cannonading  the  "Victory"  and  "  Tem^r- 
aire,"  and,  as  Captain  Lucas  described,  killing  some 
of  the  men  in  the  captured  "  Redoutable,"  which 
lay  still  fast  to  the  "  Temeraire,"  Admiral  Duma- 
noir  made  up  his  mind  to  withdraw  altogether. 
"  It  is  too  late,"  he  said,  "  to  push  in  now.  To 
join  in  the  battle  now  would  be  only  an  act  of 
despair.  It  would  only  add  to  our  losses."  He 
would  shift  for  himself  and  get  away  at  once: 
nothing  more  remained  to  do.  Exchanging  a  dis- 
tant and  irregular  fire  with  various  British  ships, 
Admiral  Dumanoir,  whose  ships  had  received  a 
certain  amount  of  damage  and  loss  in  men  (the 
"Formidable,"  for  one,  had  sixty-five  men  killed 

incidentally  referred  to.  [  '^  Not  while  I  live  :  do  you  anchor.  Hardy."] 
The  Commander-in-Chiefs  flag  of  command  flew  at  the  "  Victory's " 
masthead  until  after  half-past  four  that  afternoon,  when  Nelson  died 
and  the  battle  also  ended ;  and  the  whole  British  Fleet,  as  far  as  the 
individual  ships  could  see,  looked  to  her  for  orders  throughout. 


STUBBORNLY    RESISTING   TO   THE   LAST       233 

and  wounded,  and  had  shot-holes  m  her  hull  below 
water),  got  clear  with  four  of  his  ships.  The 
fifth,  and  sternmost  of  all,  the  "  Neptuno,"  was 
cut  off  in  trying  to  follow  her  consorts  by  the 
British  "Minotaur"  and  "Spartiate,"  themselves 
the  two  rearmost  ships  of  Nelson's  column,  brought 
to  action  and  taken  after  a  valiant  resistance.^ 

If,  as  things  turned  out,  the  "  Duguay  Trouin's  " 
role  at  Trafalgar  was  not  particularly  distin- 
guished, few  more  creditable  defences  were  ever 
made  by  the  French  than  that  of  the  "  Duguay 
Trouin's  "  officers  and  men  on  the  2nd  of  Novem- 
ber, 1805,  suffering  as  they  were  at  that  moment 
from  the  stunning  shock  of  having  just  witnessed 
the  disaster  at  Trafalgar.  In  the  fight  with  Com- 
modore Strachan  off  Cape  Einisterre,  where  the 
"Duguay  Trouin"  was  taken,  her  captain  (Touffet) 
was  struck  down  on  the  quarter-deck,  mortally 
wounded,  and  Second-Captain  Boissard  and  all  four 
of  the  ship's  lieutenants  (Lavenu,  Guillet,  Coss^, 
and  Toqueville)  were  badly  wounded.  "  Enseigne 
de  vaisseau  "  Rigodet  fought  the  ship  for  great  part 
of  the  battle,  and  as  he,  at  the  last  moment,  gave 

^  Admiral  Dumanoir's  behaviour  was  a  bitter  disappointment  to  the 
captains  who  were  still  fighting.  ''All  were  confusedly  mixed  to- 
gether, and  it  was  painfully  apparent  that  the  British  flag  pre- 
dominated amongst  the  groups  of  combatants,  when  at  length  the 
division  of  Admiral  Dumanoir  appeared  under  a  press  of  sail  on  the 
larboard  tack.  The  courage  of  the  French  and  Spaniards  revived 
at  the  sight  of  these  ships,  on  which  all  their  hopes  reposed,  but  they 
vanished  when  the  division,  consisting  of  four  vessels,  the  Formidable, 
Scipion,  Duguay  Trouin,  and  Mont  Blanc,  edging  oflF  to  windward  and 
firing  useless  broadsides,  were  seen  making  off." 


234  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

the  order  to  lower  the  tricolour,  down  with  a  crash 
came  the  ship's  three  masts  simultaneously,  shot 
through  and  through. 

"  Our  unhappy  ship,"  wrote  Captain  Gemahling, 
of  Napoleon's  67th  of  the  Line,  two  companies  of 
which  were  on  board  the  "Duguay  Trouin," 
"totally  disabled  and  making  water,  was  crushed 
by  the  fire  of  two  ships  of  the  line  and  frigates. 
It  was  not  war  as  one  understands  it ;  it  was 
butchery,  a  fearful  slaughter.  Three-quarters  of 
my  men  lay  dead  around  me ;  my  poor  lieutenant, 
Le  Deyeux,  lying  there,  a  few  feet  off,  and  so 
many  others ! "  The  British  squadron  that  brought 
the  "Duguay  Trouin"  and  her  consorts  to  bay 
was  of  superior  force,  and  comprised  "  jfresh  "  ships 
from  the  Channel  Fleet ;  and  in  his  official  despatch 
to  the  Admiralty  the  British  Commodore  (Sir 
Richard  Strachan)  spoke  of  the  French  as  having 
"fought  to  admiration,  and  not  surrendering  till 
their  ships  were  unmanageable."^  In  April,  1806, 
on  her  repairs  being  completed,  the  British 
Admiralty  renamed  the  "Duguay  Trouin"  the 
"  Implacable,"^  under  which  name  the  ship  fought 

*  In  the  way  of  prize-money,  as  it  so  happened,  the  capture  of 
Dumanoir's  squadron  was  the  best  "  haul "  of  the  kind  made  in  the 
Great  War.  It  gave  every  seaman  and  marine  engaged  £10.  13s.  as 
prize-money.  Trafalgar  only  brought  in  £6.  9s.  6d.  a  head  ;  and  the 
Nile,  the  second  best  battle  in  the  matter  of  prize-money,  only  £7.  18s. 

2  The  new  name  was  appointed  for  the  '' Duguay  Trouin,"  in 
April,  1806,  just  after  the  failure  of  Fox's  first  attempt  to  come  to 
terms  with  Napoleon  on  his  accession  to  office  on  Pitt's  death. 
There  may  have  been  some  connexion  in  idea  between  the  name 
"  Implacable  "  and  Napoleon's  rebuff  to  the  overtures. 


ADMIRAL   DUMANOIR   AND   THE   "TIMES"     235 

for  England  in  battle  and  served  in  commission  for 
between  thirty  and  forty  years. 

How  the  "Duguay  Trouin"  and  her  consorts 
came  by  their  fate  was  made  the  subject  of  a 
personal  explanation  by  Admiral  Dumanoir  him- 
self, who  took  the  unusual  step,  for  a  prisoner  of 
war,  of  writing  to  the  "Times"  on  the  2nd  of 
January,  1806.  Certain  strictures  on  his  conduct 
had  recently  appeared  in  that  paper,  to  the  effect 
that  for  great  part  of  the  battle  he  had  re- 
mained "  a  mere  passive  spectator  of  the  combat," 
and  that  he  had  retreated  in  discreditable  cir- 
cumstances. Admiral  Dumanoir  replied  from 
Tiverton,  in  Devonshire,  where  he  was  interned, 
describing  his  share  in  the  events  of  the  day.  This 
is  what  he  said  for  himself: — 

"The  left  column  of  the  English,  having 
Admiral  Nelson  at  its  head,  bore  at  first  on  the 
French  vanguard,  which  I  commanded,  but  finding 
it  too  compact,  they  exchanged  some  shots  with 
us,  and  then  struck  at  the  centre  of  our  line,  while 
Vice- Admiral  CoUingwood  attacked  our  rearguard. 
Having  then  no  enemy  to  contend  with,  I  tacked 
about,  the  wind  being  very  weak,  a  movement 
which  I  could  not  risk  without  the  aid  of  my 
boats.  I  was  followed  by  four  others,  and  taking 
the  lead  of  this  division,  I  bore  towards  the  centre 
of  our  fleet,  where  the  fire  was  hottest.  My 
intention  was  at  the  same  time  to  cut  off  two  ships 


236  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

of  war  of  the  division  of  Admiral  Nelson,  but  they 
gained  upon  me  in  swiftness,  and  in  passing  ahead 
of  me  at  the  distance  of  pistol-shot,  they  did  me 
considerable  damage.  I  had  then  to  combat  the 
enemy's  vessels  which  had  broken  and  passed  the 
centre  of  our  fleet.  On  my  coming  up,  I  found 
the  Santissima  Trinidad  and  the  Bucentaure 
totally  dismasted  and  taken  possession  of  by  the 
English,  as  well  as  a  part  of  the  vessels  which 
composed  that  division. 

"  I  continued  to  bear  upon  our  rearguard,  which 
I  found  in  part  surrendered :  I  engaged  succes- 
sively alongside  of  twelve  vessels,  of  which  four 
were  three-deckers  and  handled  us  very  severely. 
There  remained  then  on  the  field  of  battle  to 
which  I  was  coming  up  with  my  assistance,  only 
thirteen  French  and  Spanish  vessels,  which  had 
surrendered,  and  fifteen  English  vessels  (one  only 
dismasted).  I  was  thus  cut  off  from  the  rest  of 
the  Combined  Fleet,  which  was  much  before  the 
wind.  The  Neptune,  a  Spanish  vessel,  which  was 
of  the  number  of  those  which  had  tacked  about, 
but  which  was  left  very  far  behind,  was  surrounded 
by  the  enemy,  dismasted,  and  obliged  to  surrender. 
My  division,  consisting  of  only  four  disabled  ships, 
was  therefore  cut  ofl*  to  windward,  the  rest  of  the 
Combined  Fleet  being  at  the  distance  of  two  long 
leagues  before  the  wind,  and  bearing  off  under 
all  sail.  To  have  rejoined  them,  I  must  have 
fallen  in  with  the  English  Squadron,  which  re- 
mained entire  between  those  two  separated  bodies ; 


THE  ONLY  COURSE  HE  COULD  TAKE   237 

but  this  would  have  been  running  to  certain  de- 
struction, without  the  hope  of  doing  any  great 
damage  to  the  enemy.^ 

"  This  disposition,  and  the  disabled  state  of  the 
ships  under  my  command,  made  me  adopt  the  only 
proper  conduct  that  remained,  which  was  to  keep 
the  wind ;  then  I  might  have  it  in  my  power  to 
repair  during  the  night,  and  to  wait  the  chances 
of  the  following  day.  This  is  what  the  writer  of 
the  article  concerning  me  calls  'precipitately 
taking  to  flight.'  It  was  then  three-quarters  past 
five,  and  the  Combat  had  ceased.  The  Formid- 
able had  had  65  men  killed  or  wounded,  her 
masts  severely  damaged,  all  her  tackling  and  the 
greater  part  of  her  shrouds  cut  to  pieces,  her  sails 
entirely  crippled.  She  made  besides  four  feet 
water  in  an  hour,  by  reason  of  the  shots  she  had 
received  below  water-mark.  The  three  other 
vessels  were  nearly  in  the  same  state,  and  were 
indebted  only  to  a  smooth  sea  for  the  preservation 
of  their  masts.  This  is  probably  what  the  Editor 
calls  being  a  'mere  spectator  of  the  combat.' 
Next  morning,  seeing  on  the  scene  of  action  only 
the  English  and  their  captured  vessels,  I  judged 
that  our  fleet  had  re-entered  Cadiz,  and  I  took  the 
tack  for  open   sea.      It   was  then   that   I   knew 

1  Admiral  Dumanoir  first  thought  of  running  for  the  Straits  of 
Gibraltar ;  but  at  sunset  he  saw — or  fancied  he  saw — several  strange 
sail  in  the  Straits.  Knowing  that  before  the  battle  Nelson  had 
detached  six  ships  to  Gibraltar,  he  gave  up  the  idea  of  passing  that 
way,  and,  turning  north,  made  oflf,  with  the  idea  of  getting  to  Rochefort. 


238  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

more  particularly  the  state  of  my  division.  The 
four  vessels  were  obliged  to  change  their  main-top- 
masts, yards,  and  sails,  high  and  low.  The  Duguay- 
Trouin,  one  of  them,  had  her  mainyard  broken, 
and  was  near  losing  her  bow-sprit,  it  had  been  so 
much  shattered  by  shots.  The  same  was  the  case 
with  the  mizen-mast  of  the  Formidable,  which  we 
saved  only  by  keeping  against  the  wind  for  an 
hour.  This  vessel,  the  Formidable,  made  the  same 
day  five  or  six  feet  water  per  hour,  and  it  being 
a  settled  gale,  the  water  increased  to  seven  feet. 
All  the  pumps  being  insufficient  to  keep  her 
within  water-mark,  I  was  obliged,  that  I  might 
save  her  from  sinking,  to  Ughten  her,  and  reduce 
her  force  to  sixty  guns  by  throwing  overboard  her 
forecastle  battery.  From  this  time,  all  the  pumps 
were  necessary  to  keep  her  above  water.  It  was 
in  this  critical  situation  that,  on  the  2nd  November, 
at  midnight,  I  fell  in  with  the  squadron  of  Sir  R. 
Strachan." 

Another  matter  of  complaint  that  Admiral 
Dumanoir  laid  special  stress  on  was  a  charge  of 
inhumanity.  It  was  based  on  a  paragraph  in  the 
"Gibraltar  Gazette,"  which  went  so  far  as  to  assert 
that  Admiral  Dumanoir's  squadron,  as  it  was 
making  its  escape,  had  deliberately  fired  on 
several  of  the  ships  still  in  action,  and  had  in 
so  doing  hit  some  of  the  surrendered  Spanish 
ships — picking  them  out  purposely — and  killed  and 
wounded  many  men  on  board.     Dumanoir  pro- 


TRIED  BY  COURT-MARTIAL  AND  ACQUITTED     239 

tested  against  this  in  strong  terms,  and  flatly  con- 
tradicted it/ 

It  should  be  added,  in  conclusion,  that  the 
court-martial  which  tried  Admiral  Dumanoir, 
on  his  return  to  France  as  an  exchanged  prisoner 
in  1809,  on  charges  of  having  failed  to  do  his 
utmost  at  Trafalgar,  accepted  his  justification  of 
his  conduct,  and  exonerated  him  from  all  the 
charges,  to — according  to  Napoleon's  own  reported 
words — the  Emperor's  particular  disapprobation. 
Napoleon,  it  is  positively  stated,  when  on  his  way 
to  St.  Helena  on  board  the  "Northumberland," 
told  Sir  George  Cockburn  "  that  he  had  exerted 

1  '*  Three  of  the  French  ships  in  the  van,"  said  the  Gibraltar  paper, 
repeating  the  story,  "  who  had  no  part  in  the  action,  and  one  of  which 
carried  a  rear-admiral's  flag,  had  the  inhumanity  and  cowardice,  as 
they  were  making  their  escape,  to  fire  for  a  considerable  time  upon  the 
Santissima  Trinidada,  and  several  others  of  the  crippled  Spanish 
prizes,  after  they  had  surrendered  to  us  ;  which,  from  their  situation, 
were  incapable  either  of  opposition  or  flight ;  and  an  immense  number 
of  the  Spanish  were  killed  and  wounded  from  this  unprecedented  and 
bloody  deed  of  their  good  and  faithful  allies."  The  ''Gibraltar 
Gazette  "  had  also  followed  its  story  up  by  adding  this  as  a  sequel  to  the 
Dumanoir  incident.  '*  Such  was  the  indignation  felt  and  expressed  by 
the  Spaniards  at  the  conduct  of  the  French,  that  when,  two  days  after 
the  action,  seven  of  the  enemy's  Ships  came  out  of  Cadiz,  in  hopes  of 
retaking  some  of  the  disabled  prizes,  the  Spanish  crew  of  the  Argonauta 
in  a  body  oflfered  their  services  to  the  British  Officer  who  had  charge 
of  the  prize,  to  man  the  guns  against  any  of  the  French  Ships,  and 
they  were  actually  stationed  at  the  lower-deck  guns  for  that  purpose, 
whilst  the  English  seamen  manned  those  of  the  upper  deck.  The 
English  Officer  on  board  returned  all  the  Spanish  Officers  their  arms, 
and  placed  the  most  implicit  confidence  in  the  honour  of  the  Spaniards, 
which  he  had  no  reason  to  repent :  for  though  their  numbers  were  so 
superior  as  easily  to  have  enabled  them  to  retake  the  Ship,  yet  they 
on  every  occasion  showed  the  utmost  submission  and  good  conduct,  and 
declared  that  if  a  Spanish  Ship  came  alongside  of  them,  they  would 
quietly  go  below  and  leave  the  English  to  act  for  themselves." 


240  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

all  his  influence  to  have  him  either  shot  or  broke, 
but  that  he  had  been  acquitted  in  spite  of  him. 
He  added  that  when  the  sentence  of  acquittal  was 
given,  Admiral  Cosmao  (who  was  one  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  court,  who  he  said  he  decidedly  con- 
sidered to  be  the  best  sea-officer  now  in  France, 
and  had  therefore  lately  created  a  peer)  broke  his 
own  sword  at  the  time  that  that  of  Dumanoir  was 
returned  to  him,  which  act  Buonaparte  seemed 
most  highly  pleased  with."  And  yet  the  fact 
stands  that  after  Trafalgar  Napoleon  selected 
Admiral  Dumanoir  for  a  post  of  the  highest  im- 
portance. In  August,  1811,  within  fifteen  months 
of  the  court-martial,  he  was  appointed  a  vice- 
admiral,  and  Governor  of  Dantzic,  which  post 
Dumanoir  held  during  the  great  siege  by  the 
Allies,  with  the  utmost  credit  to  himself,  down  to 
January,  1814.  And  it  so  happens,  also,  curiously, 
that  the  only  British  naval  flag  now  among  the 
trophies  at  the  Invalides  was  taken  by  one  of  the 
vessels  under  Dumanoir's  orders  employed  in  the 
defence  of  the  port.^ 

At  the  Restoration  of  the  Monarchy,  in 
December,  1814,  Louis  XVIII  created  Admiral 
Dumanoir  le  Pelley  a  count,  under  the  style  of 
Le  Pelley  du  Manoir,  according  to  the  earliest 

1  I  am  indebted  for  this  information  to  Mr.  A.  B.  Tucker,  who 
very  kindly  permitted  me  to  consult  the  carefully  detailed  manuscript 
record  of  the  British  trophies  in  France  placed  by  the  Governor  of  the 
Invalides  at  his  disposal  recently  for  use  in  connexion  with  Mr. 
Tucker's  forthcoming  book  on  the  subject  of  War  Flags. 


A   TRIBUTE  TO   A   BRAVE   ANCESTOR         241 

form  of  the  family  name,  and  promoted  him  at  the 
same  time  Commander  of  the  Order  of  St.  Louis. 
The  Comte  died  in  Paris  in  1829,  in  his  sixtieth 
year.^ 

^  The  following  very  courteous  and  generously  inspired  letter  was 
sent  last  year  at  the  time  of  the  Nelson  Centenary  celebration  by  the 
present  head  of  the  Dumanoir  family  to  the  Navy  League  : — 

Monsieur  lb  PBEsroENT, 

J'apprends  que  la  Navy  League  a  depose  sur  le  monument  de 
Trafalgar  une  couronne  commemorative  en  I'honneur  des  combattants 
fran9ais  :  cette  initiative  genereuse  et  chevaleresque  sera  sincerement 
appreciee  par  ceux  qui  savent  respecter  I'infortune  et  honorer  la  vail- 
lance  meme  chez  les  vaincus. 

Mon  grand-oncle,  le  contre-amiral  Dumanoir,  fut  un  de  ces  vail- 
lants :  il  eut  la  douleur  d'amener  son  pavilion  et  de  rendre  son  bati- 
ment  a  un  lieutenant  de  votre  glorieux  Nelson ;  il  ne  le  fit  qu'apres 
deux  jours  d^une  lutte  heroique,  alors  que  son  vaisseau,  le  Formidable, 
crible,  de'sempare,  ne  gouvernant  plus,  faisait  eau  de  toutes  parts  :  les 
deux  tiers  de  I'equipage  e'taient  hors  de  combat,  lui-meme,  convert  de 
sang,  la  cuisse  fracassee,  avait  du  abandonner  le  commandement. 
L'honneur  du  soldat  etait  sauf,  la  conduite  du  commandant  devait 
aussi  etre  plus  tard  solennellement  justifiee  par  ses  pairs  et  sesjuges. 

Plein  d'admiration  pour  la  valeur  de  ses  vainqueurs,  I'amiral  ne 
cessa  de  louer  le  de'vouement,  I'accueil  aimable  et  les  soins  empresse's 
qu'il  re9ut  d'eux ;  I'hommage  comme'moratif  que  vous  rendez 
aujourd'hui  a  ce  chef  et  a  ses  compagnons  d'armes  justifie  la  profonde 
admiration  dont  il  honora  ses  heureux  adversaires. 

Petit-neveu  de  ce  chef  valeureux,  depositaire  des  amertumes 
patriotiques  que  cette  grande  journe'e  laissa  dans  son  coeur,  je  me  suis 
cru  autorise  a  adresser  a  la  Navy  League  I'expression  de  ma  vive 
reconnaissance  pour  un  acte  qui,  en  associant  dans  un  meme  hom- 
mage  les  vertus  guerrieres  de  deux  grands  peuples,  temoigne  au 
monde  qu'ils  sont  dignes  Tun  de  I'autre  pour  une  oeuvre  commune  de 
paix  et  de  grandeur. 

Veuillez  agreer.  Monsieur  le  President,  I'assurance  de  mon  plus 
profond  respect. 

VicoMTE  Lb  Pelley  Dumanoir. 

Paris,  95  rue  de  Rennes, 
le  22  octobre,  1905. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

GRAVINA   AND  ALAVA   AND  THEIR 
FLAGSHIPS 

AS  to  the  part  that  it  fell  to  the  leader  of  the 
-^^  Spaniards,  Admiral  Gravina,  and  his  flagship, 
the  "Principe  de  Asturias,"  to  take  at  Trafalgar, 
we  have  the  official  report  to  Godoy,  the  "  Prince 
of  Peace,"  at  Madrid,  sent  in  by  the  Spanish  Cap- 
tain of  the  Fleet,  Rear- Admiral  Escano.  Gravina 
was  incapacitated  from  making  his  own  report  by 
a  severe  wound,  which  afterwards  proved  mortal. 
Escano  himself  was  wounded  at  Gravina's  side, 
but  he  was  still  able  to  carry  on  the  more  urgent 
business  of  the  hour  on  reaching  Cadiz  after  the 
battle.  This  is  the  portion  of  the  Spanish  Captain 
of  the  Fleet's  report  which  deals  with  the  actual 
fighting : — 

"It  wanted  eight  minutes  to  noon  when  an 
English  three-decker  broke  through  the  centre  of 
our  line,  being  seconded  in  this  manoeuvre  by  the 
Vessels  which  followed  in  its  wake.  The  other 
leading  ships  of  the  enemy's  columns  did  the 
same.    One  of  them  passed  down  our  rear,  a  third 

242 


"EVERY  SHIP  PERFORMED  ITS  DUTY"   243 

laid  herself  between  the  Achille  and  the  San 
Ildefonso,  and  from  this  moment  the  action  was 
nothing  but  so  many  sanguinary  single  combats 
within  pistol-shot :  the  greater  part  of  them  being 
between  the  whole  of  the  Enemy's  Fleet  and  half 
of  ours ;  several  boardings  necessarily  took  place. 
I  do  not  possess  the  data  requisite  for  giving  your 
Highness  a  detailed  and  particular  account  of  these 
single  fights,  nor  can  I  speak  with  certainty  of 
the  movements  of  the  Van,  which,  1  am  informed, 
tacked  at  the  commencement  of  the  battle  in 


^re^^yi^yic^  ^7^<*.<-'-?^^ 


SIOKATURE  OF  ADMIRAL  ORAVIKA 


order  to  support  those  who  were  assailed.  I  can, 
however,  confidently  assure  you  that  every  ship, 
French  as  well  as  Spanish,  which  fought  in  my 
sight,  performed  its  duty  to  the  utmost,  and  that 
this  Ship,  after  a  terrific  contest  of  four  hours  with 
three  or  four  of  the  Enemy's  Vessels,  its  rigging 
destroyed,  its  sails  shot  through  and  through,  its 
masts  and  topmasts  riddled,  and  in  every  respect 
in  a  most  deplorable  condition,  was  most  season- 
ably relieved  by  the  San  Justo,  a  Spanish,  and  the 
Neptune,  a  French  ship,  which  junction  drove 
off    the    Enemy,    and    enabled    the    Rayo,    the 


244  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

Montanes,  the  Asis,  and  the  San  Leandro,  all  of 
which  had  suffered  severely,  to  unite  with  the 
other  French  ships,  that  were  in  just  as  bad  a 
plight.  As  soon  as  this  vessel  found  itself  free  of 
the  Enemy,  it  directed  the  ships  which  had  joined 
company  to  assist  such  vessels  as  were  in  need  of 
their  aid,  and  at  nightfall,  the  cannonade  having 
ceased  on  both  sides,  the  Themis  frigate  was 
ordered  to  tow  us  towards  Cadiz  Bay." 

One  of  the  first  British  ships  that  the  "  Principe 
de  Asturias"  encountered  was  the  "Revenge," 
which  broke  through  the  line  of  the  Combined 
Fleet  not  far  ahead  of  Gravina.  We  get  a  gUmpse 
of  the  passage  of  arms  from  a  seaman  on  board 
the  "Revenge."  "A  Spanish  three-decker  ran  her 
bowsprit  over  our  poop,  with  a  number  of  her 
crew  on  it  and  in  her  fore  rigging.  Two  or  three 
hundred  men  were  ready  to  follow ;  but  they 
caught  a  Tartar,  for  their  design  was  discovered 
and  our  marines  with  their  small  arms,  and  the 
carronades  on  the  poop,  loaded  with  canister-shot, 
swept  them  off  so  fast  that  they  were  glad  to 
sheer  off." 

Before  she  parted  from  the  "Revenge,"  the 
"  Defiance "  had  joined  in  the  attack,  and  at  the 
same  time  a  Spanish  74,  the  "San  Ildefonso," 
gallantly  closed  in  to  assist  her  admiral.  The 
"Revenge"  and  the  "Defiance,"  however,  had 
other  antagonists  to  deal  with ;  and  at  the  same 
time  fresh  British  ships,  the  three-decker  "  Dread- 


GRAVINA    AT   BAY  245 

nought "  and  the  " Polyphemus"  and  "Thunderer," 
were  nearing  the  scene.  The  "Revenge"  and 
"  Defiance  "  then  turned  their  attention  from  the 
"Principe  de  Asturias"  and  her  consort,  and  in 
succession  the  new-comers  independently  took  up 
the  attack.  It  lasted — irregularly,  for  the  British 
vessels  had  now  and  again  others  of  the  enemy  to 
fight  with — for  upwards  of  an  hour  and  three 
quarters.  Then,  after  having  made  a  fierce  and 
stubborn  defence,  at  times  fighting  both  sides  of 
the  ship  at  once,  the  "San  Justo"  and  French 
"  Neptune  "  came  on  the  scene.  Helped  by  them 
and  by  the  "Pluton,"  the  "Principe"  worked 
her  way  clear.  To  do  so,  however,  she  had  to 
sacrifice  her  brave  consort  the  "San  Ildefonso," 
now  hopelessly  crippled.  Another  British  three- 
decker,  the  "Prince,"  passed  close  to  her  at  that 
moment,  and  as  the  "  Principe  "  disengaged  herself 
fired  into  her  two  sweeping  broadsides.  Admiral 
Gravina  himself  had  fallen  just  before  this  with  his 
left  arm  shattered.  Apparently  that  was  as  the 
"Dreadnought"  fired  her  last  broadside  into  the 
Spanish  flagship. 

By  this  time  it  was  nearly  half-past  three.  See- 
ing, as  far  as  could  be  made  out,  the  whole  length 
of  the  line  ahead  of  the  "  Principe  "  in  irreparable 
disorder,  with  dismasted  and  captured  vessels 
everywhere,  and  that  both  the  "  Santisima  Trini- 
dad "  and  "  Bucentaure "  had  their  colours  down, 
Admiral  Gravina,  as  the  only  thing  left  for  him  to 


246  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

do,  hoisted  the  signal  for  a  general  rally  on  his 
flagship,  preparatory  to  a  withdrawal  to  Cadiz. 
The  Spanish  flagship's  main -mast  and  mizen, 
though  still  standing,  had  been  shot  through  and 
threatened  to  come  down  at  any  moment,  and  the 
nearest  frigate,  the  "  Themis,"  was  summoned  to 
take  the  "  Principe  de  Asturias  "  in  tow.  Bearing 
away  to  leeward  and  gathering  round  him  as  he 
moved  away  what  ships  could  draw  clear  of  the 
fighting,  some  of  which  the  remaining  frigates  took 
in  tow,  Admiral  Gravina  was  able  to  collect  in 
all  a  remnant  of  eleven  sail  of  the  line,  with  which 
he  passed  out  of  range,  and  shaped  his  course  to 
the  north-east. 

Captain  Jugan,  of  the  "  Themis,"  relates  how  he 
led  the  "Principe  de  Asturias  "  out  of  the  battle  in 
these  words,  reporting  the  incident  to  the  senior 
French  officer  at  Cadiz  a  day  or  two  afterwards: — 

"  At  four  o'clock  firing  had  ceased  in  the  centre 
and  van.  One  ship  in  the  rear  was  still  fighting, 
and  a  signal  from  the  Neptune  to  other  ships  to  go 
and  assist  that  vessel  made  me  suspect  that  it 
was  our  admiral  who  was  being  hard  pressed.  In 
a  little  time,  about  a  quarter  to  five  o'clock,  the 
smoke  having  entirely  drifted  off^,  I  made  out  the 
Principe  de  Asturias,  Admiral  Gravina's  flagship, 
dragging  herself  very  slowly  off*  to  leeward,  with 
all  set  that  were  left  of  her  ragged  sails.  I  at 
once  headed  for  the  Principe  in  response  to  her 


"I  BELIEVED  IT  WAS  ADMIRAL  VILLENEUVE"     247 

signals,  and  manoeuvred  to  pass  close  astern  of  her. 
I  repeated  the  Neptune's  signal  to  the  Spanish 
flagship,  and  also  reported  that  I  believed  that  it 
was  Admiral  V^illeneuve  whose  ship  was  still  fight- 
ing. The  reply  was  an  order  to  take  them  in 
tow  immediately.  Their  masts,  they  said,  were 
threatening  to  come  down  every  moment.  I 
obeyed  as  soon  as  possible,  and  at  that  moment 
also  all  firing  ceased.  Several  of  our  ships  were 
now  following  the  example  of  the  Neptune  and 
keeping  close  to  the  wind.  Apparently  they  were 
waiting  for  Admiral  Gravina  to  join,  and  towards 
them  I  accordingly  towed  the  Spanish  flagship." 

Out  of  1,113  officers  and  men  on  board  the 
"Principe  de  Asturias"  when  they  left  Cadiz, 
according  to  Flag-Captain  Escano's  official  return, 
52  were  killed  and  110  wounded. 

Admiral  Gravina,  on  arrival  at  Cadiz  after  the 
battle,  was  landed  and  sent  to  hospital.  He  lingered 
for  four  months  and  a  half,  and  then  died,  a 
victim  to  his  doctors.  They  disagreed  as  to  the 
necessity  for  amputating  his  arm,  and  he  preferred 
to  accept  the  views  of  the  minority,  who  had 
expressed  hopes  of  saving  the  Umb.  The  admiral 
was  still  in  hospital  at  the  end  of  February,  1806, 
when  mortification  set  in,  and  within  ten  days 
Gravina  was  dead.  This  tribute  to  the  Spanish 
admiral  appeared  in  the  "  Gibraltar  Chronicle  "  of 
the  15th  of  March.  "We  lament  to  hear  that 
the  brave  Admiral  Gravina  is  dead.     His  friends 


248  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

had  long  entertained  hopes  of  his  recovery ;  but 
they  have  been  unfortunately  disappointed.  Spain 
loses  in  him  the  most  distinguished  officer  in  her 
navy;  one  under  whose  command  her  fleets, 
though  sometimes  beaten,  always  fought  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  merit  the  encomiums  of  their 
conquerors." 


Drawn  from  a  Photo  by  Dalton  Kaulak,  Madrid] 

ADMIRAL  GRAVINa's  TRAFALGAR   SWORD   AND   COCKED   HAT 
As  kept  al  the  Museo  Naval,  Madrid 


Gravina  died  on  the  9th  of  March.  His  re- 
mains were  embalmed  and  laid  temporarily  in  the 
Chapel  of  San  Jose  at  Cadiz.  On  the  29th  of 
the  month  a  requiem  mass,  attended  by  Admiral 
Alava  and  Admiral  Rosily  (who  had  arrived  at 
Cadiz  four  days  after  Trafalgar),  with  their  staffs, 
the  Governor- General  in  state,  and  an  immense 
gathering  of  generals  and  brigadiers,  colonels  and 
navy  officers  of  all  ranks,  and  civilian  officials,  was 


WHERE  THE   ADMIRAL   NOW   RESTS  249 

held  for  him  at  the  Church  of  the  Convent  of 
the  Carmen,  Gravina's  brother,  the  Archbishop  of 
Nicaea,  officiating.  Four  years  later  the  remains 
were  removed  to  the  Chapel  of  the  Carmen,  whence 
in  1869  they  were  transferred  to  the  newly  founded 
Panteon  Nacional  at  Madrid.  With  the  admiral 
were  buried  his  hat  and  sword,  the  shot-torn  flag 
flown  at  the  masthead  of  the  "  Principe"  at  Trafal- 
gar, and  also  the  baton  of  a  Capitan  General  de  la 
Armada  (a  rank  equivalent  to  that  of  Admiral  of 
the  Fleet  in  the  British  service),  and  banner  of  a 
Knight  Grand  Cross  of  the  Order  of  Carlos  III, 
honours  conferred  upon  Gravina  on  his  deathbed, 
as  a  reward  for  having  done  his  best  at  Trafalgar. 
The  hat  and  sword  and  baton,  and  the  flags  were 
taken  from  where  they  had  lain  resting,  on  the 
coffin  within  the  tomb,  on  the  removal  of  the 
remains  to  Madrid,  and  placed  in  the  Naval 
Museum  in  the  capital,  where  they  are  now  on 
view. 

Since  then  the  body  of  the  admiral  has  been 
moved  once  again.  In  April,  1883,  it  was  re- 
transferred  by  royal  command  to  San  Fernando, 
the  naval  port  and  arsenal  near  Cadiz,  to  be  there 
deposited  in  the  Panteon  de  Marinos  lUustres. 
A  stately  procession  of  naval  and  military  detach- 
ments, headed  by  the  Captain  General  of  Cadiz 
and  his  staff,  received  the  remains  at  the  railway 
station,  and  to  the  booming  of  minute  guns, 
escorted  it  thence  to  the  Panteon,  where  Gravina 


250  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

was  laid  in  his  present  resting-place.     The  original 
coffin,  a  leaden  one,  is  thus  inscribed. 


OSSA    •    FREDERICl    •   GRAVINA 

CLASSIS  •  IBER  •  IMP   •  HIC  • 

RESURRECTIONEM   •  EXPECTANT 

OB   •  DIE  •  IX  •  TUMULAT  • 

DIE   •  XI   •  MARTII   • 

ANN    •    D    •    MDCCCVI   • 


It  now  lies  in  one  of  the  chapels  attached  to  the 
Panteon,  encased  in  a  lofty  and  imposing  monu- 
ment of  dark  marble,  bearing  a  lengthy  Latin 
inscription  setting  forth  the  admiral's  services  to 
his  country,  and  that  he  fell  at  Trafalgar: — 

"VULNERIBUS  •  RELATIS  «  POSTREMA  •  NAUMACHIA 
AD  •  TRAFALGAR  '  LETHALITER  •  SAUCIO." 

In  the  upper  portion  the  name  "gravina"  is 
seen,  boldly  lettered  in  gold  across  a  tablet  of  black 
stone,  and  above  all  is  the  statue  of  an  angel  in 
white  marble,  supporting  a  medallion  bearing  the 
admiral's  bust  carved  in  high  relief.^ 

One  officer  on  board  the  "  Principe  de  Asturias  " 
was  also  at  Waterloo.  He  was  Don  Miguel 
Ricardo  de  Alava,  a  nephew  of  Admiral  de 
Alava,  capitan  de  fregata  in  1805,  who  was  acting 
as  A.D.C.  to  Gravina  on  board  the  "Principe." 
When  Spain  threw  off  the  Napoleonic  yoke  in 
1808  Alava  joined  the  patriot  army  as  a  colonel, 

1  See  the  sketch  of  the  Gravina  monument  on  p.  411. 


AT   BOTH   TRAFALGAR  AND  WATERLOO      251 

and  he  served  as  A.D.C.  to  Wellington  throughout 
the  Peninsular  War.  In  1814  he  was  sent  as 
Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  Holland,  and  in  that 
capacity  was  in  attendance  at  Wellington's  head- 
quarters at  Waterloo.  The  Prince  Regent,  at 
Wellington's  instance,  made  Alava  an  honorary 
K.C.B.  and  gave  him  the  Peninsular  Gold  Cross 
and  Medal  with  bars  for  Badajoz,  Ciudad  Rodrigo, 
Salamanca,  Vittoria,  and  Toulouse.  In  later  years 
Don  Miguel  de  Alava  was  Spanish  Ambassador  in 
London.^ 

For  the  "  Santa  Ana's "  share  at  Trafalgar  we 
have  to  rely  entirely  on  British  narratives. 

The  "Santa  Ana,"  Vice- Admiral  Alava's  flag- 
ship, was  CoUingwood's  particular  opponent,  and 
it  was  immediately  astern  of  her  that  CoUingwood 

1  One  officer  in  the  French  Fleet  at  Trafalgar  was  also  at  Waterloo. 
He  was  the  then  Major  Drouot  of  the  Artillery.  The  ship  he  was  in 
escaped  with  Gravina,  and  Drouot  was  recalled  to  France  with  the 
survivors  of  the  soldiers  to  join  the  Grand  Army.  Jena  gave  him  a 
step,  Friedland  and  Eylau  another,  Wagram  another.  Antoine  Drouot 
of  the  Artillery  was  one  of  the  noblest-hearted  and  most  brilliant  men 
of  the  Napoleonic  era.  He  had  made  his  mark  at  Hohenlinden  and 
turned  the  fortunes  of  the  day  at  Wagram  by  the  magnificent  handling 
of  his  guns.  He  showed  splendid  endurance  during  the  horrors  of  the 
retreat  from  Moscow,  and  was  the  only  man  of  the  Grand  Army  who 
''  washed  his  face  and  shaved  in  the  open  air,  affixing  his  looking-glass 
to  a  gun-carriage,  every  day."  He  brought  all  his  batteries  and  most 
of  his  men  safely  through  the  retreat,  and  finally  commanded  the 
Imperial  Guard  at  Waterloo. 

Two  British  midshipmen  at  Trafalgar  were  officers  in  Wellington's 
army  at  Waterloo,  and  one  sailor  in  Nelson^s  fleet  was  present  there  as 
a  colour-sergeant. 


252  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

broke  the  line.  "The  Royal  Sovereign,"  records 
CoUingwood's  biographer,  Mr.  Newnham  CoUing- 
wood/  "  gave  her  a  broadside  and  a  half  into  her 
stern,  tearing  it  down  and  killing  and  wounding 
400  of  her  men ;  then,  with  her  helm  hard  a-star- 
board,  she  ranged  up  alongside  so  closely  that  the 
lower  yards  of  the  two  vessels  were  locked 
together.  The  Spanish  admiral,  having  seen  that 
it  was  the  intention  of  the  Royal  Sovereign  to 
engage  to  leeward,  had  collected  all  his  strength 
on  the  starboard ;  and  such  was  the  weight  of  the 
Santa  Anna's  metal,  that  her  first  broadside  made 
the  Sovereign  heel  two  streaks  out  of  the  water." 
So  rapid  and  deadly  was  the  fire  of  CoUingwood's 
ship  that  apparently  it  mastered  the  fire  of  the 
Spaniards  from  the  outset.  "  In  about  a  quarter 
of  an  hour,"  continues  Mr.  Newnham  CoUingwood, 
"and  before  any  other  English  ship  had  been 
enabled  to  take  a  part  in  the  action.  Captain 
Rotherham  .  .  .  came  up  to  the  Admiral  and, 
shaking  him  by  the  hand,  said,  'I  congratulate 
you,  sir :  she  is  slackening  her  fire,  and  must  soon 
strike.'  It  was,  indeed,  expected  on  board  the 
Royal  Sovereign,  that  they  would  have  had  the 
gratification  of  capturing  a  Spanish  Admiral  in 
the  midst  of  a  fleet  of  thirty-three  sail,  before  the 
arrival  of  another  English  ship,  but  the  Santa  Anna, 
though  exposed  to  a  tremendous  loss  from  the  un- 

1  '^Correspondence  and  Memoirs  of  Vice- Admiral  Lord  Colling- 
wood,"  p.  127  et  seq. 


Photo,  Dalton  Kaulak,  Madrid] 

THE    "SANTA   ANA "    AT    BAY 
(from   a   painting   in   the   MUSEO  naval,    MADRID) 

[The  "Santa  Ana"  is  shown  in  the  centre  fighting  Collingwood's  flagship,  the  "  Royal 
Sovereign,"  broadside  to  broadside.  The  British  three-decker  seen  to  the  left  of  the 
picture  is  intended  for  the  "Dreadnought,"  but  the  artist's  composition  is  hardly 
historical] 


Photo,  Dalton  Kaulak,  Madrid] 
MODEL   OF   THE   TRAFALGAR    "  SANTA    ANA"    AT   THE    ML  .^LU    .NAVAL,    MADRID 
[The  model  to  the  left  is  that  of  Commodore  Churruca's  "  San  Juan  Nepomuceno"] 

To  face  p.  252 


COLLINGWOOD   AND   THE   "ROYAL   DEVIL"     253 

remitting  fire  of  the  Sovereign  and  unable  to  do 
more  than  to  return  a  gun  at  intervals,  maintained 
the  conflict  in  the  most  determined  manner,  rely- 
ing on  the  assistance  of  the  neighbouring  ships." 

We  can  get  an  idea  of  what  the  "  Santa  Ana  " 
had  to  undergo  from  this  additional  personal  note 
about  Collingwood  himself.  "  He  visited  the  men, 
enjoining  them  not  to  fire  a  shot  in  waste,  looking 
himself  along  the  guns  to  see  that  they  were 
properly  pointed,  and  commanding  the  sailors, 
particularly  a  black  man,  who  was  afterwards 
killed,  but  who,  while  he  stood  beside  him,  fired 
ten  times  directly  into  the  porthole  of  the  Santa 
Anna." 

"The  Santa  Anna  struck  at  half-past  two 
o'clock,  about  the  time  when  the  news  of  Lord 
Nelson's  wound  was  communicated  to  Admiral 
Collingwood.  .  .  .  He  despatched  Captain  Black- 
wood to  convey  the  Spanish  Admiral  on  board  the 
Euryalus,  but  he  was  stated  to  be  on  the  point  of 
death,  and  Captain  Blackwood  returned  with  the 
Spanish  Captain.  That  officer  had  already  been 
to  the  Royal  Sovereign  to  deliver  his  sword,  and 
on  entering  had  asked  one  of  the  English  sailors 
the  name  of  the  ship.  When  he  was  told  that  it 
was  the  Royal  Sovereign,  he  replied,  in  broken 
English,  while  patting  one  of  the  guns  with  his 
hand,  'I  think  she  should  be  called  the  Royal 
Devil!'" 

The  sword  that  was  handed  to  Collingwood  was 


254  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

really  that  of  the  senior  unwounded  Spanish  lieu- 
tenant, Don  Francisco  Riquelme,  and  out  of  the 
fact  arose  a  difficulty  which  led  to  an  exchange  of 
letters  shortly  after  the  battle  between  CoUingwood 
and  Alava.  The  "  Santa  Ana  "  was  recaptured  by 
the  enemy  in  the  sortie  made  during  the  storm 
two  days  after  the  battle,  while  the  wounded 
Spanish  vice-admiral  was  still  on  board.  Hearing 
in  the  course  of  his  correspondence  with  the 
authorities  at  Cadiz  on  the  subject  of  the  sending 
in  of  the  wounded  prisoners  on  board  the  British 
Fleet,  that  Admiral  Alava's  injuries  were  after  all 
not  likely  to  prove  serious,  and  that  he  might, 
indeed,  return  to  duty  before  long,  CoUingwood 
wrote  directly  to  the  Spanish  vice-admiral,  re- 
quiring him  to  consider  himself  for  the  present  as 
an  unexchanged  prisoner  of  war : — 

"EURYALUS,    OFF    CaDIZ, 

«  Oct,  30,  1805. 

"  It  is  with  great  pleasure  I  have  heard  that 
the  wound  you  have  received  in  the  action  is  in  a 
hopeful  way  of  recovery,  and  that  your  country 
may  still  have  the  benefit  of  your  services.  But, 
Sir,  you  surrendered  yourself  to  me,  and  it  was  in 
consideration  only  of  the  state  of  your  wound  that 
you  were  not  removed  into  my  ship.  I  could  not 
disturb  the  repose  of  a  man  supposed  to  be  in  his 
last  moments;  but  your  sword,  the  emblem  of 
your  service,  was  deUvered  to  me  by  your  Captain, 


ADMIRAL   DE   ALAVA'S   SWORD  255 

and  I  expect  that  you  consider  yourself  a  prisoner 
of  war,  until  you  shall  be  regularly  exchanged  by 
cartel." 

In  reply  Alava  explained  what  had  happened 
with  regard  to  the  sword,  and  pointed  out  that  the 
recapture  of  the  "  Santa  Ana  "  had  of  itself  given 
him  back  his  liberty.  It  did  not  satisfy  the 
British  admiral ;  but  there  was  nothing  more  to  be 
done  in  the  matter,  and  so  CoUingwood  had  to  leave 
it.     This  is  what  the  Spanish  admiral  wrote : — 

"Cadiz,  2)ec.  23,  1805. 
"Most  excellent  Sir, 

"  The  moment  I  find  myself  able  to  subscribe 
my  name,  I  hasten  to  fulfil  the  duties  of  gratitude, 
by  returning  to  your  Excellency  my  warmest 
thanks  for  your  great  kindness  and  care  of  me, 
which  will  ever  be  deeply  engraven  on  my  heart. 
I  have,  at  the  same  time,  the  greatest  satisfaction 
in  acknowledging  the  generosity  and  politeness 
with  which  Lieutenant  Maker  and  a  marine  officer 
of  the  Thunderer  behaved  to  me  on  board  the 
Santa  Ana,  and  I  have  the  honour  of  recommend- 
ing these  officers  to  your  Excellency. 

"  I  should  wish  here  to  conclude  my  letter,  but  I 
feel  it  necessary  to  reply  to  the  subject  of  which 
your  Excellency  treats  in  yours  of  the  30th  of 
October. 

"  After  I  fell  senseless  in  the  action  of  the  21st 
of  October,  I  have  no  further  recollection  of  what 


256  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

passed :  neither  did  I  know  before  that  my  sword 
had  been  delivered  to  your  Excellency  by  the 
officer  who  remained  in  command  of  the  Santa 
Ana  till  the  end  of  the  combat.  In  conse- 
quence, however,  of  your  Excellency's  assertion, 
the  moment  I  found  myself  capable  of  resuming 
the  subject,  I  inquired  of  that  officer,  Don  Fran- 
cisco Riquelme,  and  was  informed  that  the  sword 
presented  by  him  on  board  the  Royal  Sovereign 
was  his  own ;  and  that  with  regard  to  me,  he  had 
only  requested  of  your  Excellency  that  I  might  not 
be  moved,  in  consideration  of  the  few  hours  for 
which  I  was  then  expected  to  survive.  In  con- 
firmation of  this,  I  must  add,  that  the  sabre  which 
I  used  in  the  battle,  and  the  swords  which  I  gener- 
ally wear,  are  still  in  my  possession.  This  officer 
beheves  that  it  was  owing  to  his  imperfectly 
expressing  himself  in  the  English  language,  that 
your  Excellency  was  led  to  think  that  it  was  my 
sword  which  he  surrendered  to  you. 

"  What  I  have  said  will  be  a  satisfactory  reply  to 
your  Excellency,  who  grounds  on  your  possession 
of  this  emblem  of  my  services  my  incapacity  to 
exert  them  during  the  continuance  of  the  war 
without  previous  exchange.  If,  however,  that  had 
been  true  which  I  have  proved  to  be  a  mistake,  it 
is  manifest  that  I  could  only  share  the  fate  of  the 
vessel  in  which  my  person  was  embarked,  under 
circumstances  in  which  it  was  so  probable  that  we 
might  be  recaptured  by  a  superior  force  from  the 


WHY   HE   WAS   NOT   A   PRISONER  257 

Combined  Fleet ;  which,  in  fact,  did  happen.  The 
same  thing  might  have  happened  to  the  Royal 
Sovereign,  whither  it  was  proposed  to  remove 
me,  since  she  was  then  dismasted,  and  as  un- 
manageable as  the  Santa  Ana,  and  there  can  be 
no  reason  why  I  should  run  a  risk  in  two  different 
vessels. 

"  It  is  extremely  painful  to  me,  that  on  the  first 
occasion  which  is  presented  to  me  of  having  the 
honour  of  communicating  with  your  Excellency, 
and  when,  before  the  receipt  of  your  valued  letter, 
I  had  anxiously  longed  for  the  means  of  declaring 
to  you  the  extent  of  my  gratitude,  I  should  be 
forced  to  dissent  from  your  opinion.  I  could  wish 
that  this  were  on  a  subject  which  depended  on 
my  own  free  will,  in  order  that  I  might  evince 
to  you  the  devotion  that  I  have,  and  shall  for 
ever  entertain  for  your  Excellency,  to  whose 
service  in  all  other  matters  I  shall  be  anxious  to 
dedicate  myself. 

"  I  am,  most  excellent  Sir, 
"  Your  most  obedient  and  affectionate  Servant, 


258  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

According  to  the  Spanish  official  Trafalgar 
returns,  out  of  1,188  officers  and  men  on  board 
the  "Santa  Ana,"  15  officers  and  97  men  were 
killed,  and  4  officers  and  141  men  were  wounded.^ 

Admiral  de  Alava  was  promoted  to  Gravina's 
place  at  the  head  of  what  was  left  of  "  la  Escuadra 
del  Oceano,"  from  which  post,  some  months  later, 
he  was  appointed  to  a  seat  in  the  Admiralty 
Council  of  the  "  Prince  of  Peace."  Alava  died  in 
1817,  Captain  General,  and  covered  with  decora- 
tions, "  dejando  en  la  Armada  memoria  de  ser  uno 
de  los  mas  valientes  y  entendidas  Jefes  de  su 
Cuerpo." 

A  very  fine  model  of  the  Trafalgar  "Santa  Ana" 
is  one  of  the  treasures  of  the  Naval  Museum  at 
Madrid,  and  there  hang  on  the  walls  of  that  in- 
stitution three  paintings  of  her,  two  showing 
Alava's  flagship  in  action  with  CoUingwood,  and 
one  to  commemorate  the  recapture  of  the  "  Santa 
Ana"  in  the  storm  of  the  23rd,  showing  the  French 
frigate  "Themis"  towing  the  recovered  three- 
decker  back  into  Cadiz  harbour. 

The  last  survivor  of  all  who  were  present  on 
either  side  at  Trafalgar  was  also,  it  is  stated,  one  of 
.the  "  Santa  Ana's  "  crew.  He  died  in  April,  1892, 
at  San  Fernando,  Cadiz — a  few  weeks  after  the 
last  Frenchman  passed  away.  A  correspondent  of 
the  "  Tribuno  "  of  Seville  of  the  9th  of  that  month 

^  That,  by  the  way,  corrects  CoUingwood's  biographer  as  to  400  men 
being  rendered  hors  de  combat  at  the  "  Royal  Sovereign's  "  first  fire. 


REAR-ADMIRAL  CI->M  K 


VICE-ADMIRAL   DE    ALAVA 


To  face  p.  258 


SPAIN'S   LAST   TRAFALGAR   VETERAN         259 

thus  recorded  the  veteran's  passing :  "  The  last  of 
those  who  took  part  in  the  glorious  naval  engage- 
ment of  Trafalgar  has  just  died  at  San  Fernando. 
He  was  named  Caspar  Costela  Vasquez,  was  born 
in  the  year  1787,  and  was  105  years  of  age  at  his 
death.  For  many  years  he  lived  in  the  Convalescent 
Hospital  of  the  garrison,  and  to  the  last  pre- 
served and  enjoyed  the  use  of  his  intellectual 
faculties.  With  great  pride  he  was  used  to  re- 
count the  exciting  affairs  of  the  days  of  that 
glorious  naval  campaign  at  which  he  had  taken 
part.  His  funeral,  which  took  place  yesterday 
afternoon,  was  attended  by  a  very  numerous  fol- 
lowing, composed  of  the  principal  officers,  and  of 
troops  of  the  naval  and  military  forces.  The 
*  feretro '  was  carried  by  four  soldiers  of  the  Marine, 
and  the  band  of  the  Marine  Infantry  also  assisted. 
The  corps  of  Marine  Infantry  has  solemnized  in  a 
brilliant  and  becoming  manner  the  burial  rites  over 
the  remains  of  the  last  of  those  who  had  lived 
to  connect  us  with  the  ever  memorable  battle  of 
Trafalgar."^ 

*  The  last  surviving  seaman  of  the  "  Victory  "  at  Trafalgar,  James 
Chapman,  died  at  Dundee  in  1876,  in  his  92nd  year.  The  last 
surviving  officer  of  the  "  Victory,"  Admiral  Sir  George  Westphal,  died 
a  few  months  previously,  in  1875.  The  two  last  British  survivors  of 
the  battle  itself,  both  officers,  were  Admiral  Sir  George  Sartorius,  who 
was  a  midshipman  of  the  "Tonnant,"  one  of  the  ships  of  Colling- 
wood's  line,  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  James  Fynmore,  of  the  Royal 
Marines,  who  at  Trafalgar  was  a  midshipman  on  board  the  ''^  Africa," 
of  Nelson's  own  line.  Sir  George  Sartorius  died  in  1886,  in  his  96th 
year,  and  Colonel  Fynmore  in  April,  1887. 


CHAPTER    XX 

THE   "SANTISIMA  TRINIDAD"  AT  BAY 

rpHE  "Santisima  Trinidad's"  station  at  Trafalgar 
-*-  was  close  to  and  next  ahead  of  the  French 
flagship  "  Bucentaure."  She  fought  at  that  point 
from  start  to  finish ;  and,  one  after  the  other,  all 
the  leading  ships  of  Nelson's  column,  as  they  came 
up,  had  a  set-to  with  the  great  hundred-and-forty- 
gun  "four-decker,"  as  the  "Trinidad"  looked  to 
be,  with  four  bands  or  "  strakes  "  of  dull  crimson 
on  her  sides  along  her  tiers  of  ports.  The  "Vic- 
tory" kept  firing  on  her  throughout  the  battle 
until  the  "Trinidad"  surrendered,  with  the  guns 
on  the  side  not  blocked  in  by  the  "  Redoutable  " ; 
the  "Temeraire"  fired  guns  at  her  from  time  to 
time ;  the  "  Neptune,"  "  Leviathan,"  "  Conqueror," 
"  Britannia,"  and  "  Africa  "  all  engaged  the  "  San- 
tisima  Trinidad  "  more  or  less  closely.  As  to  the 
great  ship  herself,  the  "  Santisima  Trinidad  "  was 
Nelson's  "  old  acquaintance"  of  Valentine's  Day  off 
Cape  St.  Vincent,  and  in  her  Ipng  career  afloat 
of  thirty-six  years  she  had  on  other  occasions 
faced  British  broadsides  in  battle.  As  the  biggest 
man-of-war  of  that  day  in  the  world,  all  on  board 


NELSON  AND  THE   ''TRINIDAD"  26l 

the  British  Fleet  had  their  eyes  on  the  "  Trinidad  " 
while  the  opposing  lines  were  nearing.  From 
all  accounts  there  was  hardly  a  British  officer 
among  those  in  the  leading  ships  who  did  not 
earnestly  pray  that  morning  that  the  fortune  of 
battle  would  take  his  ship  alongside  the  "San- 
tisima  Trinidad."^ 

Rear -Admiral  Cisneros,  whose  flagship  the 
"  Santisima  Trinidad  "  was,  personally  gave  an  ac- 
count of  the  battle  and  his  ship's  doings  to  Godoy, 
who  had  it  published  in  the  official  "Madrid 
Gazette  "  of  the  12th  of  November,  1806  :— 

"Admiral  Cisneros  has  communicated  to  the 
Prince  of  Peace  several  interesting  particulars  of 
the  combat  maintained  by  his  flagship  the  San- 
tisima Trinidad.  From  his  account  it  appears  that 
Admiral  Nelson,  in  his  ship  the  Victory,  and  with 
two  three-deckers,  bore  down  to  break  the  line 
between  the  stem  of  the  Santisima  Trinidad  and 
the  bow  of  the  Bucentaure,  the  flagship  of  Admiral 
Villeneuve.     Admiral  Cisneros  immediately  gave 

1  Nelson  himself,  indeed,  in  the  language  of  one  of  the  many  poems 
on  Trafalgar,  which  were  published  in  Spain  immediately  after  the 
battle,  no  sooner  saw  the  "Santisima  Trinidad"  with  Cisneros'  flag 
flying  at  the  masthead,  than,  recalling  who  the  enemy  were  when  he 
lost  his  arm,  he  set  himself  to  make  her  his  own  prize,  and,  heading 
for  her,  rushed  ardently  into  the  fight. 

"  Ardiendo  Nelson,  en  venganza  impia. 
Par  su  patente  mutilado  miembro, 
Y  Abukir,  Copenhague  en  su  memoria. 
Con  frenetico  orgullo  repasando, 
Al  descubrir  la  tremolente  insignia 
De  Cisneros,  aspira  a  la  alta  gloria 
De  arrebatar  lo  Trinidad  ansiada/' 


262  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

orders  to  back  the  topsails  of  the  Trinidad,  and 
brought  that  ship  so  close  to  the  French  vessel 
that  by  this  manoeuvre,  as  well  as  by  the  destruc- 
tive fire  which  followed,  he  frustrated  the  intention 
of  Admiral  Nelson,  who  was  only  able  to  open  for 
himself  a  passage,  and  thus  to  break  the  line,  by 
the  stern  of  the  Bucentaure.^  That  being  effected, 
the  Victory  took  her  position  on  the  starboard  side 
of  the  Trinidad,  and  the  two  other  three-deckers 
placing  themselves  on  the  larboard  side,  the  com- 
bat raged  with  unexampled  fury  until  4  o'clock 
p.m.,  by  which  time  the  Santisima  Trinidad  was 
totally  dismasted,  and  had  lost  more  than  three 
hundred  men.  The  vessel  indeed  was  in  so 
shattered  a  condition,  that,  notwithstanding  that 
the  English  officer  placed  in  possession  of  her  had 
been  expressly  informed  that  it  was  Admiral 
Nelson's  particular  wish  she  should  be,  if  possible, 
preserved  and  carried  to  England,  they  were  com- 
pelled to  abandon  the  attempt.  The  water  gained 
upon  her  so  fast  that  the  pumps  were  utterly  use- 
less, so  that  during  the  night  of  the  third  day  after 
the  battle  she  sank,  the  crew  having  been  previ- 
ously taken  out  of  her.  It  is  worthy  of  notice 
that  from  the  accounts  hitherto  received  it  appears 
that  the  English  made  three  distinct  attempts  to 
break  the  line,  and  were  on  each  occasion  com- 
pletely repulsed  by  our  ships.     We  have  already 

1  A  painting  of  the  "  Santisima  Trinidad  "  barring  the  "  Victory's  " 
passage  at  this  point  is  on  the  walls  of  the  Naval  Museum  at  Madrid. 


FROM   A   SPANISH    POINT   OF   VIEW  263 

seen  Admiral  Nelson's  want  of  success  in  his 
endeavour  to  pass  by  the  stern  of  the  Santisima 
Trinidad.  Equally  unfortunate  was  the  attempt 
of  Admiral  Collingwood,  who,  leading  the  van  of 
the  English  Fleet  in  his  flagship  the  Royal 
Sovereign,  tried  to  break  our  line  by  the  bow  of 
the  Santa  Ana,  the  flagship  of  Don  Ignacio  Maria 
Alava.  This  commander  defeated  the  manoeuvre 
in  such  a  manner  that  the  Santa  Ana  running 
alongside  the  Royal  Sovereign,  a  murderous  fight 
ensued,  which  ended  only  by  both  vessels  being 
totally  dismasted.  The  third  column  of  the  enemy 
made  a  similar  attempt  by  the  bow  of  the  Principe 
de  Asturias,  the  flagship  of  Admiral  Gravina,  but 
that  ship,  by  closing  up  and  opening  a  very  sharp 
and  well  directed  fire,  forced  the  enemy  to  abandon 
his  intention  and  to  retreat." 

This  is  what  a  British  officer  saw  of  the  "  San- 
tisima Trinidad"  at  the  outset,  as  his  ship,  the 
"Britannia,"  came  up  to  her  and  passed  through 
the  line  astern  of  the  Spanish  four-decker.  "  We 
then  encountered  the  Santisima  Trinidad,  240  (sic) 
guns  on  four  decks  (the  largest  ship  known).  We 
passed  under  the  stern  of  this  magnificent  Ship, 
and  gave  her  a  broadside  which  shattered  the  rich 
display  of  sculpture,  figures,  ornaments  and  in- 
scriptions with  which  she  was  adorned.  I  never 
saw  so  beautiful  a  ship.  Luffing  up  alongside  her 
four-decked  side,  of  a  rich  lake  colour,  she  had  an 
imposing  effect." 


264  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

A  vivid  and  telling  narrative  of  what  passed  on 
board  the  "  Santisima  Trinidad,"  and  of  the  fearful 
ordeal  that  the  hapless  1,048  Spaniards  on  board 
went  through,  standing  up  to  their  guns  and 
taking  their  punishment  manfully  until  human 
endurance  could  bear  no  more,  is  given  in  the 
pages  of  the  "  Trafalgar  "  volume  of  Don  B.  Perez 
Galdos'  series  of  "Episodios  Nacionales."  For 
his  own  purposes  in  telling  the  story  the  author 
has  invented  characters  who  figure  as  narra- 
tors of  incidents  described ;  but  beyond  that 
very  slight  touch  of  fictitious  veneer  in  parts,  the 
book  is  trustworthy  and  an  authentic  account  of 
experiences  on  board,  drawn  from  official  docu- 
ments in  the  Archivo  de  la  Marina  and  private 
papers  and  letters  now  in  family  collections. 

Here  is  what  things  looked  like  on  board  the 
"  Santisima  Trinidad,"  as  related  in  Perez  Galdos' 
"Trafalgar":— 

"Our  fleet  displayed  a  wide  front,  and  to  all 
appearance  Nelson's  two  columns,  advancing  in  a 
wedge,  were  coming  down  upon  us  so  as  to  cut  our 
lines  through  the  centre  and  rear. 

"  This  was  the  position  of  the  hostile  fleets  when 
the  Bucentaure  signalled  that  we  were  to  put 
about. 

tF  TT  'Jp  TT  lF  * 

"  In  point  of  fact,  what  had  been  the  vanguard 
was  now  in  the  rear,  and  the  reserve  ships,  which 
were  the  best,  were  rearmost  of  all.      The  wind 


'^THE   SAND— BRING   THE   SAND!"  265 

had  fallen,  and  the  ships  being  of  various  tonnage 
and  inefficiently  manned,  the  new  line  could  not 
form  with  due  precision.  Some  of  the  vessels 
moved  quickly  and  drove  forward,  others  went 
slowly,  hanging  back  and  losing  way,  and  formed 
wide  gaps  that  broke  the  line  before  the  enemy 
did  it. 


"  Early  in  the  morning  the  decks  were  cleared 
for  action,  and  when  all  was  ready  for  serving  the 
guns  and  working  the  ship,  I  heard  some  one  say : 
'  The  sand — bring  the  sand.'  A  number  of  sailors 
were  posted  on  the  ladders  from  the  hatchway  to 
the  hold  and  between  decks,  and  in  this  way  were 
hauling  up  sacks  of  sand.  Each  man  handed  one 
to  the  man  next  to  him  and  so  it  was  passed  on. 
A  great  quantity  of  sacks  were  thus  brought  up 
from  hand  to  hand,  and  they  were  emptied  out  on 
the  upper  decks,  the  poop,  and  the  forecastle,  the 
sand  being  spread  about  so  as  to  cover  all  the 
planking.  The  same  thing  was  done  between 
decks.  My  curiosity  prompted  me  to  ask  a  lad 
who  stood  next  me  what  this  was  for. 

"  *  For  the  blood,'  he  said  very  coolly. 

"*For  the  blood!'  I  exclaimed,  unable  to  re- 
press a  shudder.  I  looked  at  the  sand — I  looked 
at  the  men  who  were  busily  employed  on  this 
task — and  for  a  moment  I  felt  I  was  a  coward. 


266  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

"  Everything  was  ready  for  serving  the  guns  and 
the  ammunition  was  passed  up  from  the  magazines 
to  the  decks  by  a  chain  of  men,  like  that  which 
had  brought  up  the  bags  of  sand. 

"The  EngUsh  advanced  to  attack  us  in  two 
divisions.  One  came  straight  down  upon  us,  and 
at  its  head,  which  was  the  point  of  a  wedge,  sailed 
a  large  ship  carrying  an  admiral's  flag.  This,  I 
afterwards  learned,  was  the  Victory,  commanded 
by  Nelson,  At  the  head  of  the  other  line  was  the 
Royal  Sovereign,  commanded  by  Collingwood. 

"  A  ship  towards  the  rear  was  the  first  to  open 
fire  on  the  Royal  Sovereign,  commanded  by 
Collingwood,  and  while  that  ship  carried  on  her 
fight  with  the  Santa  Ana  the  Victory  came  down 
on  us.  On  board  the  Trinidad  every  one  was 
anxious  to  open  fire,  but  our  captain  would  not 
give  the  word  till  he  saw  a  favourable  opportunity. 
Meanwhile,  as  if  the  ships  had  been  touching  one 
another  and  a  train  of  quick-match  had  been 
laid  all  along,  passing  from  one  to  the  other,  the 
fire  ran  along  from  the  Santa  Ana  in  the  middle, 
to  each  end  of  the  line. 

"  The  Victory  fired  first  on  the  Redoutable,  and 
being  repulsed  she  came  up  to  windward  of  the 
Trinidad.  The  moment  had  come  for  us.  A 
hundred  voices  shouted  '  Fire  ! "  loudly  re-echoing 
the  word  of  command,  and  fifty  round  shot  were 
hurled  against  the  sides  of  the  English  man-of-war. 
For  a  minute  1  could  see  nothing  of  the  enemy  for 


AT  CLOSE  QUARTERS  WITH  THE  "VICTORY"     267 

the  smoke,  while  they,  as  if  bHnded  with  rage, 
came  straight  down  on  us  before  the  wind.  Just 
within  pistol-shot  they  put  the  Victory  about  and 
gave  us  a  broadside.  In  the  interval  between  our 
firing  and  theirs,  our  crew,  who  had  taken  note  of 
the  damage  done  to  the  enemy,  became  very  enthu- 
siastic. The  guns  were  rapidly  served,  though 
not  without  some  trouble,  owing  to  want  of  ex- 
perience in  some  of  the  gunners. 

"  The  Bucentaure,  close  astern  of  us,  was,  as  we 
were,  firing  on  the  Victory  and  the  Tem^raire — 


36-PR.    BAR-SHOT,    FIRED   BY  THE   **  SANTISIMA  TRINIDAD " 
INTO   THE   "victory" 

another  powerful  English  ship.  It  seemed  as 
though  the  Victory  must  fall  into  our  hands,  for 
the  Trinidad's  fire  had  cut  her  tackle  to  pieces,  and 
we  saw  with  pride  that  her  mizen-mast  had  gone  by 
the  board. 

-TP  ^  'Jr  TT  TT  TT 

"  The  Trinidad  was  doing  the  Victory  immense 
damage,  when  the  Temeraire,  by  a  wonderfully 
clever  manoeuvre,  slipped  in  between  the  two 
vessels ;  thus  sheltering  her  consort  from  our  fire. 
She  then  passed  through  the  line  astern  of  the 
Trinidad,  and  as  the  Bucentaure,  during  the  firing. 


268  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

had  moved  up  so  close  alongside  of  the  Trinidad 
that  their  yardarms  touched,  there  was  a  wide 
space  beyond,  into  which  the  Tem^raire  settled 
herself,  and  then  she  came  up  on  our  lee  side  and 
delivered  a  broadside  into  us  there.  At  the  same 
time  the  Neptune,  another  large  English  ship, 
placed  herself  where  the  Victory  had  previously 
been,  while  the  Victory  also  wore  round,  so  that, 
in  a  few  minutes,  the  Trinidad  was  quite  surrounded 
by  the  enemy  and  riddled  by  shot  from  all  sides. 

"  The  line  of  the  Combined  Fleet  was  after  that 
broken  at  several  points,  and  the  loose  order  in 
which  they  had  been  formed  at  the  outset  gave 
place  to  disastrous  confusion.  We  were  surrounded 
by  the  enemy,  whose  gims  kept  up  a  tornado  of 
round  shot  and  grape-shot  on  our  ship,  and  on  the 
Bucentaure  as  well.  The  Agustin,  the  Heros,  and 
the  Leandro,  were  also  engaged  at  some  distance 
from  us,  where  they  had  rather  more  sea-room, 
while  the  Trinidad,  and  the  Admiral's  ship,  cut 
off  on  all  sides  and  held  fast  by  the  genius  of  the 
great  Nelson,  were  fighting  desperately.  To  win 
the  day  was  already  impossible ;  we  were  anxious 
though,  at  any  rate,  to  perish  gloriously. 

"The  scene  on  board  the  Santisima  Trinidad 
was  simply  infernal.  All  attempts  at  working  the 
ship  had  to  be  abandoned.  She  could  not  move. 
The  only  thing  to  be  done  was  to  serve  the  guns 
as  fast  as  we  could  and  damage  the  enemy  all  we 
could. 


THE  TERRIBLE  SCENE   ON   BOARD  269 

"  The  English  shot  had  torn  our  sails  to  tatters. 
It  was  as  if  huge  invisible  talons  had  been  dragging 
at  them.  Fragments  of  spars,  splinters  of  wood, 
thick  hempen  cables  cut  up  as  corn  is  cut  by  the 
sickle,  fallen  blocks,  shreds  of  canvas,  bits  of  iron, 
and  hundreds  of  other  things  that  had  been 
wrenched  away  by  the  enemy's  fire,  were  piled 
along  the  deck,  where  it  was  scarcely  possible  to 
move  about.  .  .  .  Blood  ran  in  streams  about  the 
deck,  and  in  spite  of  the  sand,  the  rolling  of  the 
ship  carried  it  hither  and  thither  until  it  made 
strange  patterns  on  the  planks.  The  enemy's  shot, 
fired  as  they  were  from  very  short  range,  caused 
horrible  mutilations.  .  .  .  The  ship  creaked  and 
groaned  as  she  rolled,  and  through  a  thousand 
holes  and  crevices  in  her  hull  the  sea  spurted  in 
and  began  to  flood  the  hold. 

"  There  was  hardly  a  man  to  be  seen  who  did  not 
bear  marks,  more  or  less  severe,  of  the  enemy's 
iron  and  lead. 

"The  Bucentaure,  the  French  Admiral's  ship, 
surrendered  before  our  very  eyes. 

"  When  once  the  leader  of  the  fleet  was  gone, 
what  hope  was  there  for  other  ships  ?  The  French 
flag  vanished  from  the  gallant  vessel's  mast  and 
she  ceased  firing.  The  San  Agustin  and  the 
Heros  still  struggled  on,  and  the  Rayo  and  Nep- 
tuno,  from  the  van,  made  an  effort  to  rescue  us 
fi-om  the  enemy,  who  were  fiercely  battering  us. 
Nothing  was  to  be  seen  of  the  rest  of  the  line. 


270  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

The  wind  had  fallen  to  a  dead  calm  and  the  smoke 
settled  down  over  our  heads,  shrouding  everything 
in  with  its  dense  wreaths,  which  it  was  impossible 
for  the  eye  to  pierce.  We  could  catch  a  glimpse 
now  and  then  of  a  distant  ship,  mysteriously  mag- 
nified by  some  inexplicable  optical  effect ;  then  all 
vanished. 


"  The  Bucentaure  having  struck,  the  enemy's 
fire  was  directed  on  us,  and  our  fate  was  sealed." 

A  British  officer  on  board  the  "Conqueror," 
looking  on  at  the  moment  that  the  "Santisima 
Trinidad"  gave  in,  relates  what  he  saw  of  the 
finale : — 

"  The  Bucentaure  had  just  surrendered  and  the 
Conqueror  passed  on  to  take  a  station  on  the 
quarter  of  the  Trinidada,  while  the  Neptune  con- 
tinued the  action  with  her  on  the  bow.  In  a  short 
time  this  tremendous  fabric  gave  a  deep  roll  with 
the  swell  to  leeward,  then  back  to  windward ;  and 
on  her  return  every  mast  went  by  the  board, 
leaving  her  an  unmanageable  hulk  on  the  water. 
Her  immense  topsails  had  every  reef  out,  her 
royals  were  sheeted  home  but  lowered,  and  the 
falling  of  this  mass  of  spars,  sails,  and  rigging, 
plunging  into  the  water  at  the  muzzles  of  our  gims, 
was  one  of  the  most  magnificent  sights  I  ever 
beheld.     Immediately  after  this  a  Spaniard  showed 


"MERELY   AN   OVERSIGHT!"  271 

an  English  Union  on  the  lee  gangway,  in  token  of 
submission." 

In  connexion  with  the  "  Santisima  Trinidad " 
an  extraordinary  incident  occurred  in  the  middle 
of  the  battle,  after  her  colours  had  been  shot 
away  in  action  with  the  "Africa."  Coolly  pro- 
fessing to  believe  that  the  biggest  ship  of  the 
enemy  was  ready  to  surrender  on  formal  demand 
by  his  own,  the  smallest  on  the  British  side, 
Captain  Digby,  of  the  "Africa,"  lowered  a  boat 
and  sent  an  officer  on  board  to  ask  for  the  captain's 
sword  and  take  possession  of  the  "  Santisima 
Trinidad."  The  Spanish  officers,  instead  of  dis- 
arming him  instantly  and  making  him  a  prisoner, 
received  him  with  stately  politeness.  They  had 
not  surrendered,  they  assured  Lieutenant  Smith. 
The  "  Trinidad "  had  no  intention,  they  said,  of 
striking  her  flag.  They  were  getting  up  fresh 
ammunition  from  the  magazines,  that  was  why 
they  had  ceased  firing.  It  was  only  through  an 
oversight  that  the  colours  had  not  been  rehoisted. 
So  they  explained  with  Castilian  courtesy,  and 
then  showed  the  British  lieutenant  formally  off 
the  quarter-deck  and  down  the  side  back  into  his 
own  boat,  after  which  firing  recommenced. 

For  various  reasons,  as  it  happened,  it  was  not 
found  practicable  to  take  formal  possession  of  the 
"  Trinidad  "  until  some  time  after  the  battle  was 
over.  The  ship  meanwhile  remained  with  her 
colours  down,  taking  no  part  in  what  was  going 


272  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

on  all  round  her.  To  rehoist  the  colours  and  try 
to  escape — not  an  unknown  thing  in  battle — was 
beyond  the  power  of  a  dismasted  hulk,  in  the 
"  Trinidad's  "  hopeless  state,  to  attempt. 

"At  25  minutes  after  six,"  says  an  officer  of 
the  "Prince,"  one  of  the  ships  of  ColUngwood's 
line,  in  a  private  letter,  "took  possession  of  the 
Santisima  Trinidad,  a  four-decker,  totally  dis- 
masted. .  .  .  Our  first  night's  work  on  board  the 
Trinidad  was  to  heave  the  dead  overboard,  which 
amounted  to  254  killed,  and  173  wounded,  several 
of  which  are  dead  since." 

Said  another  officer.  Midshipman  Badcock  of 
the  '* Neptune " :  "I  was  on  board  our  prize  the 
Trinidada,  getting  the  prisoners  out  of  her.  She 
had  between  three  and  four  hundred  killed  and 
wounded ;  her  beams  were  covered  with  Blood, 
Brains  and  peices  of  Flesh  and  the  after  part  of 
her  Decks  with  wounded,  some  without  legs  and 
some  without  an  Arm." 

According  to  a  Spanish  MS.  account,  apparently 
from  one  of  the  ship's  officers,  which  is  now  among 
the  Egerton  papers  at  the  British  Museum,  the 
"Santisima  Trinidad"  surrendered  half  an  hour 
after  the  " Bucentaure,"  "not  being  able  any 
longer  to  work  her  guns,  owing  to  the  mass  of 
wreck  which  covered  her  decks  and  hung  over  her 
sides,  and  the  heaps  of  dead  which  choked  up  her 
batteries.  Her  loss  has  been  very  severe;  her 
Admiral,  second  and  third  lieutenants  and  twenty- 


OFFICERS   WOUNDED   IN   THE   "TRINIDAD"     273 

two  other  officers  have  been  wounded,  seven  of 
whom  have  since  died." 

Among  the  wounded,  according  to  another 
statement,  were  Rear- Admiral  Cisneros  himself, 
Don  Francisco  de  Uriarte,  the  captain  of  the 
"Santisima  Trinidad,"  and  the  two  next  senior 
officers  on  board,  Don  Ignacio  Olaete  and  Don 
Jos^  Sartoria,  who,  as  the  "  Trinidad's  "  third  lieu- 
tenant, had  previously  been  wounded  in  her  at 
the  battle  of  Cape  St.  Vincent.  Rear- Admiral 
Cisneros  recovered  from  his  wound  within  a  few 
weeks  of  the  battle.  He  was  promoted  Vice- 
Admiral  for  his  services  on  the  occasion,  and 
lived  to  become  Captain-General  and  Minister  of 
Marine.  His  portrait,  as  that  of  a  famous  leader 
of  the  Spanish  Fleet,  hangs  in  the  Museo  Naval 
at  Madrid.  "La  figura  de  D.  Baltasar  Hidalgo 
de  Cisneros,"  says  a  Spanish  writer,  "  es  una  de  las 
mas  brillantes  y  gloriosas  de  nuestra  Armada." 


CHAPTER    XXI 

HOW  "EL  GRAN   CHURRUCA"  FACED 
HIS   FATE 

"  TT^L  GRAN  CHURRUCA,"  as  to  this  day  in 
J-^  Spain  they  call  the  heroic  officer  who  fought 
and  fell  on  board  the  "San  Juan  Nepomuceno," 
has  ever  since  Trafalgar  been  to  his  countrymen 
their  hero  of  heroes  in  the  battle.  "Churruca 
morio  como  el  Cid,"  all  Spain  said  of  him  with 
pride  at  the  time,  and  says  still.  Not  unjustifi- 
ably, indeed,  if  dauntless  courage  and  a  lofty  bear- 
ing in  the  face  of  adversity  count  among  men. 

Not  very  long  before  the  Combined  Fleet  left 
Cadiz  he  had  attracted  all  eyes  to  himself  by  a 
display  of  nerve  and  firmness,  coupled  with  tact, 
evinced  on  the  occasion  of  an  outbreak  on  board 
his  ship  that  threatened  to  become  a  dangerous 
mutiny.  Churruca,  by  acting  promptly  and  with 
an  iron  hand,  suppressed  it  without  calling  on 
assistance  from  outside.  The  "San  Juan"  had  been 
one  of  the  ships  stationed  near  the  entrance  to  the 
harbour  to  keep  watch  lest  the  English,  as  was 
expected,  should  try  to  send  in  fireships  and  destroy 

274 


A   MUTINY   CHECKED   AT   THE   OUTSET      275 

the  Combined  Fleet  at  anchor.  Irritated  at  being 
kept  up,  night  after  night,  at  the  guns,  while  no 
enemy  appeared,  and  at  the  same  time  discontented 
with  the  provisions  supplied  them  from  shore, 
a  number  of  the  soldiers  drafted  on  board  openly 
mutinied  and  threatened  to  use  their  firearms 
against  the  ship's  officers.  The  situation  looked 
like  becoming  grave,  but,  at  the  critical  moment, 
Churruca  took  just  the  right  step,  with  the  result 
that  he  was  able  to  repress  the  mutineers  with 
little  more  than  a  show  of  pistols.  His  personal 
appeal  to  their  loyalty  made  some  waver,  where- 


^^ 


SIOKATUSE  OF  COMMODORE  CHURRUCA 

upon  by  a  judicious  display  of  force  he  and  his 
officers  overawed  the  disaffected,  isolated  their 
leaders  from  the  loyal  men  on  board,  disarmed 
them  and  made  them  prisoners,  and  then  at  once 
packed  them  off  out  of  the  ship,  sending  them 
ashore  under  bayonet  sentries  to  be  dealt  with 
by  the  authorities  there  under  martial  law.  Order 
was  restored  automatically,  and  the  "  San  Juan's  " 
crew  as  a  body  returned  to  their  duty  with  re- 
doubled loyalty  and  admiration  for  their  captain. 
Churruca's  detailed  report  to  Admiral  Gravina  on 
the  occurrence  is  in  existence  and  bears  testimony 
to  the  resolute  character  and  lofty  spirit  of  the 
man. 


276  THE  ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

His  high  spirit  did  not  desert  him  to  the  last ; 
although  Churruca  was  fully  convinced  that  the 
venture  before  him  and  his  brother  officers  was 
a  hopeless  one ;  also  that  he  personally  would  not 
come  back  alive  from  it. 

Commodore  Churruca  went  into  action,  we  are 
told,  with  his  mind  full  of  the  presentiment  of 
defeat ;  and  also  that  his  last  hour  was  at  hand. 
Before  the  fleet  sailed  on  Saturday  the  19th,  he 
said  this  to  his  nephew,  Don  Jose  Ruiz  de 
Apodoca,  son  of  Don  Juan  R.  de  Apodoca, 
Commandant-General  of  La  Carracca  dockyard, 
who  was  on  board  the  "  San  Juan  Nepomuceno  " 
as  a  volunteer :  "  Write  to  your  friends  that  you 
are  going  into  a  battle  that  will  be  desperate  and 
bloody.  Tell  them  also,  that  they  may  be  certain 
of  this — ^that  I,  for  my  part,  will  meet  my  death 
there.  Let  them  know  that  rather  than  surrender 
my  ship  I  shall  sink  her.  It  is  the  last  duty  that 
an  officer  owes  to  his  king  and  country."  Churruca 
himself  wrote  that  same  day  to  an  intimate  friend 
of  his  own :  "  If  you  hear  that  my  ship  has  been 
taken,  you  can  say  that  I  am  dead  1 "  [Si  llegas  a 
saber  que  mi  navio  ha  side  hecho  prisoniero,  di  que 
he  muerto  1] 

He  was  hopeless  of  victory  in  any  circum- 
stances ;  as,  indeed.  Captain  Churruca  throughout 
took  no  pains  to  conceal.  When,  at  eight  o'clock 
on  the  morning  of  the  battle,  Villeneuve  ordered 
the  fleet  to  go  about  and   form   line,  divisional 


HIS   EYES   FIXED   ON  THE   "BUCENTAURE"     277 

commanders  leading  their  divisions  (ordre  naturel), 
he  openly  expressed  condemnation  of  the  forma- 
tion. Such  an  evolution,  he  said  aloud,  was  bound 
to  throw  the  fleet  into  confusion,  and  in  the  light 
wind  it  would  take  all  the  morning  to  re-form, 
besides  wearing  out  and  disheartening  the  men. 
Fretful  and  downcast,  he  turned  to  Don  Francisco 
Moyna,  his  second  in  command,  and  declared  that 
the  day  was  already  lost.  "  The  fleet  is  doomed. 
The  French  admiral  does  not  understand  his  busi- 
ness. He  has  compromised  us  all ! "  ["  Esta  la 
escuadra  perdida.  El  general  frances  no  sabe  su 
obligacion,  y  la  compromete ! "]  At  eleven  o'clock, 
when  the  intentions  of  the  enemy  had  become 
plain  and  it  was  seen  that  the  British  admiral  meant 
to  throw  the  weight  of  his  attack  on  the  centre 
and  rear  of  the  Combined  Fleet,  Churruca 
complained  bitterly  that  Admiral  Villeneuve  did 
not  seem  to  see  the  danger.  Why  did  he  not 
make  the  obvious  counter-move,  he  said,  which 
would  foil  the  attack  ?  Churruca  stood  on  deck, 
we  are  told,  watching  fixedly  for  the  "  Bucentaure  " 
to  make  the  signal  that  was  wanted.  He  kept,  all 
the  time,  his  telescope  at  his  eye,  pointed  on  the 
masthead  of  the  "  Bucentaure."  But  no  signal  of 
the  sort  was  made.  Turning  away  for  an  instant, 
he  exclaimed  to  the  nearest  officer :  "  Our  van  will 
be  cut  away  from  the  main  body  and  our  rear  will 
be  overwhelmed.  Half  the  line  will  be  compelled 
to  remain  inactive.     The  French  admiral  does  not 


278  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

— ^will  not — ^grasp  it.  He  has  only  to  act  boldly, 
only  to  order  the  van  ships  to  wear  round  at  once 
and  double  on  the  rear  squadron.  That  will  place 
the  enemy  themselves  between  two  fires."  But  no 
signal  was  made,  and  then,  lowering  his  tele- 
scope finally,  Churruca  stalked  off  across  the 
quarter-deck  muttering :  "  Perdidos ! ,  Perdidos  I , 
PerdidosI"^ 

After  that  Churruca  ordered  all  hands  to  be 
called  on  deck.  Whatever  the  outcome  of  the 
day  might  be,  Churruca  determined  that  he  and 
his  men,  at  least,  should  not  be  found  want- 
ing in  their  duty  to  the  flag.  He  proposed  to 
make  an  appeal  to  them  by  all  that  they  held 
most  sacred.  He  sent  for  the  ship's  chaplain  and 
had  all  the  officers  and  men  turned  up  and  paraded 
on  deck.  Then  he  turned  to  the  priest  and  bade 
him  invoke  Divine  protection  on  all  on  board. 
"Father,"  he  said,  "perform  your  sacred  office. 
Absolve  the  souls  of  these  brave  fellows,  who  know 
not  what  fate  this  battle  may  have  for  theml" 
["  Cumpla  V.  Padre  con  su  Ministerio.  Absuelva 
d  estos  vahentes  que  no  saben  lo  que  les  espera  en 
la  batalla."] 

*  The  signal  was  made  by  Admiral  Villeneuve,  as  has  been  seen^  but 
a  little  time  later.  '*The  English,^' says  a  French  officer,  '' advanc- 
ing under  press  of  sail  in  two  columns  had  already  reached  within 
cannon  shot  and  a  half  of  the  Combined  Fleet.  .  .  .  Then  Villeneuve, 
perceiving  clearly  that  the  plan  of  Admiral  Nelson  was  to  cut  through 
his  line  and  divide  it,  made  a  signal  to  Admiral  Dumanoir  to  wear  and 
reinforce  the  centre  of  the  line.  Unfortunately  this  order  remained 
unnoticed.  Not  a  ship  of  the  van  squadron  put  about,  although  the 
signal  was  repeated  by  the  frigate  Hortense.^' 


'^N  THE  NAME  OF  THE  GOD  OF  BATTLES!"     279 

After  a  short  but  solemn  service  of  benedic- 
tion had  been  held,  Churruca  himself  stepped  to 
the  quarter-deck  rail.  He  addressed  the  men  in  a 
loud,  clear  voice  in  these  words :  "  My  sons,  in 
the  name  of  the  God  of  Battles  I  promise  eternal 
happiness  to  all  those  who  to-day  fall  doing  their 
duty.  On  the  other  hand,  if  I  see  any  man  shirk- 
ing I  will  have  him  shot  on  the  spot.  If  the 
scoundrel  escapes  my  eye,  or  that  of  the  gallant 
officers  I  have  the  honour  to  command,  rest 
assured  of  this,  that  bitter  remorse  will  dog  the 
wretch  for  the  rest  of  his  days,  for  so  long  as  he 
crawls  through  what  may  remain  of  his  miserable 
and  dishonoured  existence."  [These  were  Chur- 
ruca's  actual  words :  "  Hijos  mios  ;  en  nombre  del 
Dios  de  los  Ejercitos,  prometo  la  bienaventuranza 
al  que  muera  cumpliendo  sus  deberes !  Si  encuentro 
alguno  que  falte  a  ellos,  lo  hare  fusilar  immediata- 
mente ;  y  si  escapase  a  mis  miradas  y  a  las  de  los 
vaUentes  oficiales  que  tengo  el  honor  de  mandar, 
sus  remordimientos  le  seguiran  mientras  arrastre 
el  resto  de  sus  dias,  miserable  y  desgraciado ! "] 
Then  Churruca  called  for  three  cheers  for  the 
King — "  Viva  el  Rey  ! " — and  after  that  the  drums 
and  fifes  struck  up,  as  the  crew,  full  of  eagerness 
and  excitement,  hastened  back  to  their  quarters. 

The  "San  Juan  Nepomuceno"  was  the  third 
ship  astern  of  the  "  Santa  Ana "  at  the  outset  of 
the  battle.  She  first  exchanged  fire  with  the 
*'  Mars "  as  that  ship  tried  to  break  the  line  just 


280  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

ahead  of  her,  until  Cosmao,  in  the  "  Pluton,"  lying 
off  to  windward,  threatened  to  rake  the  "  Mars," 
which  thereupon  steered  for  another  gap  and  came 
into  close  action  with  the  "Pluton."  Then  the 
British  80-gun  ship  "Tonnant"  arrived  on  the  scene 
and  engaged  the  Spanish  74  in  a  fierce  close- 
quarter  action.  It  lasted  until  the  "  San  Juan  " 
had  been  hammered  nearly  to  a  standstill  under 
the  "Tonnant's"  well-directed  broadsides,  and  a 
heavy  fire  from  the  "  Bellerophon,"  "  Defiance," 
and  other  ships,  which,  one  after  the  other,  assailed 
Churruca  as  they  passed  near,  while  in  action  with 
other  ships. 

Perez  Galdos  relates  in  detail  how  Churruca's 
ship  went  through  the  day  and  how  her  heroic 
captain  met  his  death,  following  closely  an  account 
from  on  board  the  ship,  preserved  among  the 
Apodoca  family  papers : — 

"  The  San  Juan  Nepomuceno  was  at  the  end  of 
the  line.  The  Royal  Sovereign  and  the  Santa 
Ana  opened  fire  and  then  all  the  ships  in  turn 
came  into  action.  Five  English  vessels  under 
Collingwood  attacked  our  ship ;  two,  however, 
passed  on,  and  Churruca  had  only  three  to  deal 
with. 

"  We  held  out  bravely  against  these  odds  till 
two  in  the  afternoon,  suffering  terribly,  though  we 
dealt  double  havoc  on  the  foe.  Our  leader  seemed 
to  have  infused  his  heroic  spirit  into  the  crew  and 


SIX   AGAINST   ONE  281 

soldiers,  and  the  ship  was  handled  and  her  broad- 
sides deUvered  with  wonderful  promptitude  and 
accuracy.  The  new  recruits  learnt  their  lesson  in 
courage  in  no  more  than  a  couple  of  hours' 
apprenticeship,  and  our  defence  struck  the  English 
with  astonishment. 

"  They  were  in  fact  forced  to  get  assistance,  and 
bring  up  no  less  than  six  against  one.  The  two  ships 
that  had  at  first  sailed  past  us  now  returned,  and 
the  Dreadnought  came  alongside  of  us,  with  not 
more  than  half  a  pistol-shot  between  her  and  our 
stem.^  You  may  imagine  the  fire  of  these  six 
giants  pouring  balls  and  small  shot  into  a  vessel 
of  74  guns ! 

"Churruca,  meanwhile,  who  was  the  brain  of 
all,  directed  the  battle  with  gloomy  calmness. 
Knowing  that  only  care  and  skill  could  supply 
the  place  of  strength,  he  economized  our  fire, 
trusting  entirely  to  careful  aim,  and  the  conse- 
quence was  that  each  ball  did  terrible  havoc  on 
the  foe.  He  saw  to  everything,  settled  everything, 
and  the  shot  flew  round  him  and  over  his  head 
without  his  ever  once  changing  colour  even. 

"  It  was  not  the  will  of  God,  however,  that  he 
should  escape  alive  from  that  storm  of  fire.  See- 
ing that  no  one  could  hit  one  of  the  enemy's  ships 

About  thirty  yards. 


282  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

which  was  battering  us  with  impunity,  he  went 
down  himself  to  judge  of  the  line  of  fire  and 
succeeded  in  dismasting  her.  He  was  returning 
to  the  quarter-deck  when  a  cannon  ball  hit  his 
right  leg  with  such  violence  as  almost  to  take  it 
off,  tearing  it  across  the  thigh  in  the  most  frightful 
manner.  He  fell  to  the  ground,  but  the  next 
moment  he  made  an  effort  to  raise  himself,  sup- 
porting himself  on  one  arm.  His  face  was  as 
white  as  death,  but  he  said,  in  a  voice  that  was 
scarcely  weaker  than  his  ordinary  tone:  'It  is 
nothing — ^go  on  firing ! ' "  ["  Esto  no  es  nada.  Siga 
el  fuego ! "] 

"He  did  all  he  could  to  conceal  the  terrible 
sufferings  of  his  cruelly  mangled  frame.  Nothing 
would  induce  him,  it  would  seem,  to  quit  the 
quarter-deck.  At  last  he  yielded  to  our  entreaties 
and  then  he  seemed  to  understand  that  he  must 
give  up  the  command.  He  called  for  Moyna,  his 
second  in  command,  but  was  told  that  he  was  dead. 
Then  he  called  for  the  officer  in  command  on  the 
main  deck.  That  officer,  though  himself  seriously 
wounded,  at  once  came  to  the  quarter-deck  and 
took  command. 

"It  was  just  before  he  went  below  that  Churruca, 
in  the  midst  of  his  agonies,  gave  the  order  that  the 
flag  should  be  nailed  to  the  mast.  The  ship,  he 
said,  must  never  surrender  so  long  as  he  breathed. 
["  Despues,"  says  the  account  in  the  family  papers, 
"  pidi6  a  los  que  vinieron  en  su  ayuda  que  clavara 


A   GOOD   MAN   AND   A   HERO  283 

la  bandera  y  no  se  rindiera  el  buque  mientras  el 
tuviera  un  atomo  de  vidas."] 

"  The  delay,  alas  !  could  be  but  short.  He  was 
going  fast.  He  never  lost  consciousness  till  the 
very  end,  nor  did  he  complain  of  his  sufferings. 
His  sole  anxiety  was  that  the  crew  should  not 
know  how  dangerous  his  wound  was  ;  that  no  one 
should  be  daunted  or  fail  in  his  duty.  He  spe- 
cially desired  that  the  men  should  be  thanked  for 
their  heroic  courage.  Then  he  spoke  a  few  words 
to  Ruiz  de  Apodoca,  and  after  sending  a  farewell 
message  to  his  poor  young  wife,  whom  he  had 
married  only  a  few  days  before  he  sailed,  he  fixed 
his  thoughts  on  God,  Whose  name  was  ever  on  his 
lips.  So  with  the  calm  resignation  of  a  good  man 
and  the  fortitude  of  a  hero,  Churruca  passed  away. 

"  After  he  was  gone,  it  was  too  quickly  known, 
and  the  men  lost  heart.  .  .  .  Their  courage  was 
really  worn  out.  It  was  but  too  plain  that  they 
must  surrender.  ...  A  sudden  paralysis  seemed 
to  seize  on  the  crew ;  their  grief  at  losing  their 
beloved  leader  apparently  overpowered  the  dis- 
grace of  surrender. 

"  Quite  half  the  San  Juan^s  crew  were  hors  de 
combat^  dead  or  wounded.^  Most  of  the  guns  were 
disabled.  All  the  masts,  except  the  main-mast, 
had  gone  by  the  board.     The  rudder  was  useless. 

1  According  to  the  official  Spanish  returns  the  ''  San  Juan  Nepomu- 
ceno  "  lost  250  officers  and  men  (100  killed  and  160  wounded)  out  of  a 
total  ship's  company,  as  mustered  on  the  19th,  of  693. 


284  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

And  yet,  in  this  deplorable  plight  even,  they  made 
an  attempt  to  follow  the  Principe  de  Asturias, 
which  had  given  the  signal  to  withdraw;  but  the 
San  Juan  Nepomuceno  had  received  her  death 
blow.  She  could  neither  sail  nor  steer." 
So  the  flag  had  to  come  down. 

Three  British  ships  claimed  the  "  San  Juan."  The 
"Tonnant,"  her  principal  opponent,  seeing  her  cease 
fire,  sent  a  boat  with  an  officer  to  take  possession, 
but  the  boat  was  struck  by  a  shot  and  was 
swamped  on  the  way.  The  "  San  Juan  "  crawled 
away  and  fell  in  with  the  "  Defiance,"  before  whose 
threatening  attack  she  yielded  at  discretion.  "  The 
Defiance,"  says  a  memoir  of  her  captain,  "was 
just  going  to  pour  in  a  broadside,  when  Captain 
Durham  observed  the  Spanish  captain  surrounded 
by  his  officers,  making  signals  with  their  hats,  and 
ordered  the  crew  of  the  Defiance  not  to  fire,  upon 
which  the  Spaniard  hauled  down  his  colours  with- 
out firing  a  shot."  Apparently  the  "Defiance" 
did  not  wait  to  take  possession.  It  fell  to  the 
"  Dreadnought,"  a  little  later,  to  receive  the  sur- 
render formally  and  man  the  prize. 


Churruca,  personally,  was  the  idol  of  the  Spanish 
Fleet  of  his  day.  He  was  comparatively  young 
for  the  rank  he  held — that  of  Commodore — only 
forty-four  years  of  age.     As  a  navigator  and  an 


HIS   COUNTRY'S   TRIBUTE   TO   CHURRUCA     285 

officer  of  scientific  attainments  his  reputation 
stood  high.  Many  years  before  his  explorations 
in  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  and  along  the  coasts 
of  Patagonia  and  Chili,  had  given  him  European 
fame.  There  is  a  striking  portrait  of  Churruca 
at  the  Naval  Museum  in  Madrid.  It  hangs  in 
the  hall  dedicated  to  "  Officers  killed  in  action," 
between  the  portrait  of  Gravina  and  that  of  the 
gallant  Velasco,  the  defender  of  Havana  in  1763, 
in  whose  honour  King  Charles  III  decreed  that 
as  long  as  Spain  had  a  navy,  one  of  its  ships  should 
ever  bear  the  name  of  Velasco.  Churruca  also  has 
two  statues  in  Spain.  One,  erected  in  1811,  stands 
in  the  Plaza  Mayor  of  Ferrol ;  the  other,  erected  in 
1886,  is  in  the  little  town  of  Motrico  in  Guipuzcoa, 
where  Churruca  was  bom.  His  name  has  been 
borne  since  Trafalgar  by  several  Spanish  men-of- 
war,  and  there  are  descendants  of  his  serving  in 
the  Spanish  Navy  of  to-day.  One  is  the  Captain 
Churruca  who  commanded  the  Spanish  torpedo 
squadron  at  Santiago  de  Cuba  in  the  war  with  the 
United  States,  and  in  the  spirit  of  his  heroic 
ancestor  before  leaving  Cadiz  led  his  crews  to  a 
shrine  of  the  Virgin  and  there  took  a  solemn  vow 
with  them  to  conquer  or  die.  They  did  not  get 
a  chance  of  doing  either. 

Churruca's  ship,  the  "  San  Juan,"  was  one  of  the 
few  trophies  of  Trafalgar  that  CoUingwood  was 
able  to  preserve.  She  was  kept  at  Gibraltar  for 
ten  years  as  a  receiving  hulk,  at  first  under  the 


286  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

name  of  the  "  Berwick,"  and  after  that  under  her 
original  name,  and  then,  in  1815,  was  broken  up. 
That  was  the  fate  of  the  actual  ship :  in  memory 
of  her  fate,  her  captain,  and  brave  crew,  a  beautiful 
model  of  the  vessel  was  long  preserved  with  honour 
at  the  dockyard  where  the  "  San  Juan  "  was  built. 
It  is  now  among  the  pick  of  the  models  in  the 
fine  collection  in  the  Naval  Museum  at  Madrid. 


CHAPTER    XXII 

CAPTAINS    WHOM    SPAIN    REMEMBERS 
WITH    PRIDE 

rpHE  fame  of  Galiano  of  the  "  Bahama  "  at  Tra- 
J-  falgar  stands,  in  the  estimation  of  his  country- 
men, next  after  that  of  Churruca,  and  very  nearly 
on  a  level  with  it.  "El  inelito  Galiano"  they  call 
him  to  this  present  day  in  the  Spanish  Navy. 
Like  Churruca,  Galiano  displayed  the  highest 
personal  courage  in  face  of  overpowering  odds ; 
like  him,  Galiano  fell  in  the  midst  of  a  heroic 
resistance,  dying  on  the  quarter-deck  of  his  ship, 
bidding  them  keep  the  colours  flying,  nailed  to  the 
mast.  "  Un  Galiano  sabi  morir,  pero  no  renderse," 
were,  it  is  recorded,  his  last  words. 

The  "  Bahama's "  station  when  the  battle  opened 
was  the  fifth  or  sixth  ship  astern  of  the  "  Santa 
Ana";  just  where  perhaps  the  fiercest  fighting 
of  the  whole  battle  took  place.  Her  first  antago- 
nist was  the  hard-hitting  "  Bellerophon,"  with 
whom,  however,  the  encounter  was  but  partial 
and  did  not  last  very  long.  Then  the  "  Colossus," 
following  the  "  Bellerophon  "  into  battle,  attacked 

287 


288  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

her  and  also  the  French  "  Swiftsure,"  which  was 
near  by.  The  "  Swiftsure,"  however,  after  a  while 
dropped  back  to  a  little  distance,  and  left  the 
"Bahama"  to  fight  it  out,  practically  ship  to 
ship,  with  the  "  Colossus."  That  British  seventy- 
four  had  already  engaged  and  roughly  handled 
the  "Argonauta,"  but  her  highly  trained  crew, 
commanded  by  Captain  James  NicoU  Morris,  were 
little  the  worse  so  far  for  the  encounter,  and  as 
dangerous  opponents  as  the  "Bahama's"  men 
could  meet.     For  their  part,  the  Spaniards,  incited 


^67>u^  ec/./^«i^ 


SIGNATURE  OF  COMMODORE  OALIAKO 


by  the  words  and  example  of  their  leader,  a  man 
of  iron  nerve,  as  he  has  been  described,  made  up 
for  their  deficiencies  of  training  by  a  surprisingly 
stubborn  defence.  They  made  the  "Colossus" 
pay  heavily  before  she  had  achieved  her  end. 

"Galiano,"  describes  Perez  Galdos,  "reviewed 
the  crew  at  noon,  went  round  the  gun-decks,  and 
made  the  officers  an  address.  'Gentlemen,'  he 
said,  'you  all  know  that  our  flag  is  nailed  to 
the  mast.'  He  was  a  stern  commander  and  a  man 
without  nerves.  Then  he  turned  to  the  captain 
of  the   marine  infantry  on   board,   Don   Alonso 


"NO   GALIANO   EVER   SURRENDERS!"         289 

Butron.  *  I  charge  you  to  defend  it/  he  said. 
*  No  Galiano  ever  surrenders,  and  no  Butron  should 
either.'  In  that  spirit  the  *  Bahama's '  captain  took 
up  his  post  in  the  battle. 

"  The  enemy  riddled  the  '  Bahama '  with  broad- 
sides to  port  and  starboard.  The  men  fell  quickly 
from  the  very  first,  and  the  Commodore  early  had 
a  bad  bruise  on  his  foot,  after  which  a  splinter 
struck  him  on  the  head  and  gashed  him  deeply. 
But  he  paid  little  heed  to  it  and  refused  to  go  to 
the  surgeon.  He  stayed  on  deck  and  directed  the 
fight,  sternly  giving  his  orders,  as  if  nothing  was 
happening.  Alcala  Galiano  gave  his  orders  and 
directed  his  guns  as  if  the  ship  had  been  firing 
salutes  at  a  review." 

Galiano  fell  about  three  o'clock.  He  met  his 
death,  according  to  a  written  account  from  on 
board  the  "  Bahama,"  now  kept  among  his  family's 
archives,  in  this  way.  He  was  standing,  a  few 
moments  earlier,  on  the  quarter-deck  with  his 
telescope  in  his  hand  when  the  wind  of  a  passing 
shot  made  him  stagger,  and  sent  his  glass  flying 
down  on  deck.  His  coxswain,  a  veteran  sailor 
and  an  old  follower  of  Galiano's,  picked  it  up 
and  hastened  to  the  commodore  to  see  if  he  had 
been  harmed.  Galiano  with  a  smile  was  reassuring 
the  coxswain  when,  all  in  an  instant,  a  cannon 
ball  smashed  in  between  them,  cutting  the  un- 
fortunate coxswain  in  two  and  covering  Galiano 
with    his    blood.      The  next    moment   a   second 


290  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

cannon  ball  struck  down  the  commodore  himself, 
with  part  of  his  head  shot  away. 

On  the  fall  of  their  leader,  or  almost  imme- 
diately afterwards,  all  the  fighting  flickered  out 
of  those  who  were  left  on  board  the  "  Bahama." 
An  attempt  was  made  to  keep  the  news  of 
Galiano's  death  from  the  crew;  and  a  flag  was 
thrown  over  the  body  as  it  lay,  but  the  news  all 
the  same  spread  like  wildfire  below,  and  the  men 
at  the  guns  began  to  flinch.  Don  Roque  Guruceta, 
the  senior  surviving  lieutenant — Galiano's  second 
in  command  was  off  the  deck,  severely  wounded — 
held  a  hasty  consultation  with  two  other  officers, 
and  then  ordered  the  nailed-up  flag  to  be  torn 
down.  It  was  done,  and  at  the  same  time  a 
British  Jack  was  displayed.  So  the  "Bahama's" 
part  ended  at  Trafalgar,  and  shortly  afterwards  a 
lieutenant  of  the  "Colossus"  came  on  board  to 
take  Don  Roque  to  the  British  ship  to  formally 
deliver  up  his  sword  to  Captain  Morris. 

It  was  panic  at  Galiano's  fall  apparently  that 
caused  the  loss  of  the  "  Bahama  "  at  that  moment. 
She  had  been  defending  herself  vigorously  up  to 
then,  and  her  casualty  list,  so  far,  had  not  befen 
excessively  heavy :  75  killed  and  67  wounded ;  a 
total  of  142  of  all  ranks  out  of  a  ship's  company 
of — according  to  Commodore  Galiano's  return  to 
the  flag-captain  on  the  morning  of  the  19th — 690 
men. 

There  is   a  portrait  of   Galiano  in  the  Naval 


«EL   INTREPIDO   VALDEZ"  291 

Museum  at  Madrid,  and  a  statue  to  his  honour 
stands  in  the  Plaza  Mayor  of  Corunna. 

*  #  #  #  #  # 

Valdez  of  the  "Neptuno,"  Don  Cayetano  Valdez 
— "El  intrepido  Valdez"  the  Spanish  Navy  has 
called  him  ever  since — was  another  officer  who 
fought  with  distinction  at  Trafalgar.  He  com- 
manded the  "  Neptuno,"  one  of  Admiral  Duma- 


C^i 


t/4ot^>s^ 


SIGNATURE  OF  CAPTAIN  VALDEZ 


noir's  squadron,  and  during  the  earlier  part  of  the 
afternoon,  like  his  consorts  in  the  van,  had  to  look 
on  while  the  centre  and  rear  ships  of  the  Com- 
bined Fleet  were  being  overpowered  within  sight. 
As  the  leading  ship  of  all  during  the  first  two 
hours  of  the  battle,  when  Dumanoir  at  length 
went  about  the  "  Neptuno  "  became  rearmost  ship, 
at  the  tail  of  the  five  vessels  that  the  French 
admiral  carried  with  him  when  he  turned  back  and 
passed  to  windward  of  the  battle.  That  also  led 
to  Captain  Valdez'  undoing. 

After  following  his  leader  for  a  short  way  Valdez 
apparently  became   doubtful   as  to  what  to  do 


292  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

next.  Should  he  follow  in  wake  of  the  five  van 
ships,  the  "  Intrepide,"  "  Heros,"  and  the  rest  that 
had  stood  to  leeward  and  were  already  in  brisk 
action  with  the  nearest  group  of  Nelson's  ships, 
trying  to  make  their  way  past  them  towards 
Gravina?  Or,  should  he  stand  in,  regardless  of 
consequences,  towards  where  the  dismasted  "Trini- 
dad "  lay  ?  He  had  rescued  the  "Trinidad"  once — 
should  he  try  to  bring  her  off  again  ?  Captain 
Valdez  hesitated.  Twice  he  altered  his  course. 
Then  he  changed  his  mind  once  more,  and  tried 
to  regain  his  proper  station  astern  of  Dumanoir's 
retreating  four.  But  he  had  lagged  behind  his 
consorts  too  far  to  catch  them  up  quickly,  and  had 
fallen  considerably  to  leeward  of  them — leaving 
a  wide  gap  between.  Before  the  "Neptuno" 
could  close  up  on  the  "Scipion,"  the  nearest  of 
her  consorts,  two  British  ships  from  windward, 
after  passing  and  exchanging  broadsides  with  the 
other  four  of  Admiral  Dumanoir's  ships,  closed  in 
and  fastened  on  the  "Neptuno."  They  cut  her 
off  and  attacked  on  either  side.  The  two  were 
the  "Minotaur"  and  "Spartiate,"  whose  position 
at  the  extreme  rear  of  Nelson's  column,  while 
bringing  them  late  into  the  battle,  now  gave 
them  their  chance.  The  two  waylaid  the  "Nep- 
tuno,"  hustling  her  in  her  effort  to  escape  and 
forcing  Valdez  to  accept  battle  at  every  dis- 
advantage. 

With  all  her  sails  and  rigging  cut  to  pieces, 


THE   LAST   SPANIARD  TO   GIVE   IN  293 

the  "  Neptuno  "  could  soon  only  go  dead  slow,  and 
meanwhile  the  enemy,  drawing  up  on  her  quarter 
on  either  side,  pounded  at  her  steadily  and  with 
practical  impunity:  "firing  obhquely  through  her," 
according  to  the  "  Spartiate's  "  log,  "  she  returning 
at  times  from  her  stern-chase  and  quarter  guns." 
Valdez  fought  on  stolidly,  half  expecting,  it  would 
seem,  that  Dumanoir  would  turn  back  to  disengage 
him.  But  no  thought  of  that  was  in  the  French 
admiral's  mind.  When  the  "Neptuno's"  mizen- 
mast  and  her  fore  and  maintopmasts  came  down 
in  quick  succession,  there  was  left  no  more  hope, 
no  further  possibility  of  escape,  for  Captain 
Valdez.  After  an  hour  and  a  quarter's  most 
gallantly  maintained  fight  he  gave  in  and  lowered 
his  colours,  the  last  Spaniard  to  surrender  at 
Trafalgar.  It  was  about  the  very  moment  that 
the  only  other  ship  of  the  Combined  Fleet  at 
Trafalgar  still  fighting,  the  "  Intr^pide,"  lowered 
her  colours,  and  there  is  even  now  something  of  a 
dispute  between  French  and  Spanish  navies  as  to 
which  ship  was  actually  the  last  to  yield.  ^ 

It  was  the  hopelessness  of  his  position  that  in 
the  end  decided  Captain  Valdez  to  surrender — not 
so  much  the  loss  on  board  the  "  Neptuno."  That, 
of  itself,  was  comparatively  light:   89  all  told — 

^  In  after  days  honours  came  quickly  on  Don  Cayetano  Valdez.  He 
distinguished  himself  as  a  general  in  the  Peninsular  War,  became 
Governor  of  Cadiz^  and  Captain-General,  Minister  of  Marine,  Presi- 
dent of  Cortes,  and  finally  President  of  the  Regency  during  the  infancy 
of  Queen  Isabella  II. 


294  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

42  killed  and  47  wounded — out  of  800  officers 
and  men.  He  was,  indeed,  unable  either  to  fight 
or  fly.  His  ship,  towards  the  last,  could  hardly 
move  through  the  water :  her  rigging  had  been  cut 
to  pieces ;  her  sails  were  hanging  in  tatters  ;  while, 
all  the  time,  the  English  ships — two  to  one — were 
pounding  into  the  "Neptuno"  at  short  range, 
hardly  receiving  a  shot  in  return  themselves ; 
cannonading  her  with  a  cross-fire  that  Valdez  was 
practically  unable  to  reply  to  except  with  a  few  of 
his  aftermost  guns.  In  such  a  position  effective 
resistance  was  out  of  the  question.  To  prolong 
resistance  was  a  mere  sacrifice  of  human  life,  and 
the  brave  Spaniard,  sorely  against  his  will,  had 
to  acknowledge  it.  So  Valdez  mournfully  gave 
orders  for  the  "  Neptuno's  "  ensign  to  come  down. 


Don  Antonio  Pareja  captained  the  "  Argonauta," 
the  most  perfect  man-of-war  in  both  fleets,  as  it 
was  claimed  for  her.  Said  Admiral  Gravina  to 
Pareja,  when  presenting  him  with  his  commission 
to  command  the  ship :  "  Le  entrego  a  usted  la 
mejor  flor  di  mi  jardin."  The  "Argonauta" 
fought  various  British  ships  during  the  first  hour 
of  the  battle,  and  then  she  had  a  sharp  set-to  with 
the  British  "  Achille  "  which  lasted  over  an  hour. 
Towards  the  end,  the  "  Argonauta,"  unable  to  fire 
another  gun,  but  with  her  colours  still  flying,  made 
a  forlorn-hope  effort  to  escape.     She  hoisted  her 


'^NO   LIVING   PERSON   ON   HER   DECK"        295 

mainsail  to  move  off,  but  the  attempt  failed.  After 
that,  shutting  down  their  ports,  they  displayed  a 
British  flag  over  the  "  Argonauta's "  larboard 
quarter,  in  token  of  surrender.  Out  of  780  officers 
and  men  on  board  when  she  left  Cadiz  the 
"Argonauta"  had  300  killed  and  wounded,  the 
killed  making  exactly  a  third  of  the  total.  The 
"  Belleisle  "  finally  took  possession  of  the  ship,  and 
one  of  the  British  ship's  marine  officers  was  sent  to 
receive  the  surrender  in  form.  He  described  his 
visit  in  these  words : — 

"A  beaten  Spanish  80-gun  ship — the  Argonauta 
— having,  about  this  time,  hoisted  English  colours, 
the  Captain  was  good  enough  to  give  me  the  pin- 
nace to  take  possession  of  her.  The  Master 
accompanied  me,  with  eight  or  ten  seamen  or 
marines,  who  happened  to  be  near  us.  On  getting 
up  the  Argonauta's  side,  I  found  no  living  person 
on  her  deck ;  but  on  my  making  my  way,  over 
numerous  dead  and  a  confusion  of  wreck,  across 
the  quarter-deck,  I  was  met  by  the  second  captain 
at  the  cabin  door,  who  gave  me  his  sword,  which  I 
returned,  desiring  him  to  keep  it  for  Captain 
Hargood,  to  whom  I  should  soon  introduce  him. 
With  him  I  accordingly  returned  to  the  Belleisle, 
leaving  the  Master  in  charge  of  the  prize." 

The  casualty  returns  from  the  other  Spanish 
ships,  as  officially  published  a  few  weeks  later, 
may  be  summarized  as  follows.    Of  those  that  made 


296  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

full  or  approximate  returns :  the  "  San  Agustin," 
out  of  711  on  board,  put  her  losses  at  380 — 180 
killed  and  200  wounded  ;  the  "  Monarca,"  out  of  a 
ship's  company  of  667,  stated  hers  at  250 — 100 
killed  and  150  wounded  ;  the  "  San  lldefonso,"  out 
of  746  all  told,  gave  her  figures  as  160 — 34  killed 
and  126  wounded.  Others  of  the  returns  were 
admittedly  incomplete,  it  being  found,  for  various 
reasons,  impossible  to  get  fuller  statements.  Thus 
the  "Montanez,"  out  of  715  officers  and  men, 
accounted  for  a  total  loss  of  not  more  than  49 ; 
the  "  San  Leandro,"  out  of  606,  reported  a  loss  of 
only  30  ;  the  "  Rayo,"  with  830  men  on  board,  put 
her  total  casualties  at  fewer  still — 18 ;  the  "  San 
Francisco  de  Asis,"  with  a  crew  of  677,  put  hers 
at  17 :  the  "  San  Justo,"  again,  reported  only  seven 
men  wounded  and  not  one  man  killed,  out  of  a 
crew  of  694  of  all  ranks  and  ratings. 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

THE   VICTIMS   OF  THE   STORM 

ALL  the  world  knows  how  a  fierce  storm  from 
-^  the  Atlantic  burst  on  the  victorious  British 
Fleet  and  its  prizes  during  the  night  after  Trafalgar. 
It  lasted  four  days,  and  caused  the  loss,  by  sinking, 
recapture,  wreck,  or  enforced  destruction  at  the 
hands  of  their  captors,  of  all  the  British  prizes 
made  in  the  battle,  except  four  ships.  Their 
fate  completed  the  catastrophe  of  Trafalgar  for 
France  and  Spain.  Many  brave  officers  and  men 
met  their  death  on  board  the  ships  in  spite  of 
every  effort,  made  at  great  risk  by  the  victors,  to 
save  life. 

The  "  Fougueux  "  was  the  first  ship  of  all  to  be 
lost.  At  the  close  of  the  fighting  the  British 
frigate  "Phcebe"  had  taken  her  in  tow;  but  about 
midnight,  when  the  wind  shifted  to  the  south-west 
and  began  to  blow  a  gale,  she  broke  adrift.  As 
the  morning  of  the  22nd  came  on,  it  blew  harder 
still,  and  in  spite  of  every  effort  by  the  "  Phcebe," 
during  the  earlier  part  of  the  day,  to  get  hold  of 
the  prize  again,  the  "  Fougueux  "  drove  ashore  and 

297 


298  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

was  beaten  to  pieces  on  the  rocks^  Almost  all  on 
board  were  lost  with  the  ship,  including  thirty  of 
the  "  Tem^raire's "  men,  who  formed  the  British 
crew  in  charge  of  the  prize. 

Pierre  Servaux,  the  master-at-arms  of  the 
"  Fougueux,"  whose  narrative  of  the  ship's  doings 
and  fate  in  the  battle  has  been  quoted,  says  this  of 
the  dreadful  state  of  affairs  on  board  during  the 
night  of  the  21st,  after  the  ship  had  broken  away 
from  the  "  Phoebe  "  :— 

"  The  ship  was  in  a  terrible  condition,  cut  down 
to  a  hulk,  without  masts,  sails,  or  rigging  left.  She 
was,  too,  without  a  boat  that  could  swim,  while 
the  whole  vessel  was  as  full  of  holes  as  a  sieve, 
shattered  from  stem  to  stern,  and  with  two  enor- 
mous gaps  forced  in  on  the  starboard  side  at  the 
water  line,  through  which  the  sea  poured  in  a 
stream.  The  water  had  risen  almost  to  the  orlop 
deck.  Everyw^here  one  heard  the  cries  of  the 
wounded  and  the  dying,  as  well  as  the  noise  and 
shouts  of  insubordinate  men  who  refused  to  man 
the  pumps  and  only  thought  of  themselves.  The 
scenes  of  horror  on  board  the  ship  that  night  were 
really  the  most  awful  and  fearful  that  imagination 
can  call  up.'* 

Servaux  himself  escaped  next  morning  as  the 
"Fougueux"  was  nearing  the  rocks,  when  the 
water  in  the  hold  had  reached  the  lower  deck  and 
matters  were  desperate,  by  jumping  into  the  sea 
from  one  of  the  lower-deck  ports  and  swimming 


HOW  THE   "REDOUT ABLE"   WENT   DOWN     299 

to  an  English  boat  from  the  "  Orion  "  that  was  not 
far  off. 

Next  the  "  Redoutable  "  met  her  fate.  She  went 
to  the  bottom  in  the  course  of  the  night  of  the 
22nd.  She  was  in  tow  of-  the  "  Swiftsure  "  at  the 
time,  and  we  have  eye-witnesses'  accounts  of  what 
happened,  from  the  "Swiftsure."  First,  briefly, 
here  is  the  record  of  the  event  from  the  "  Swift- 
sure's  "  log : — 

"  At  5,  the  prize  made  the  signal  of  distress  to 
us.  Hove  to,  and  out  boats,  and  brought  the 
prize  officer  and  his  people  on  board,  and  a  great 
many  of  the  prisoners.  At  a  quarter  past,  the 
boats  returned  the  last  time  with  very  few  in 
them,  the  weather  so  bad  and  sea  running  high 
that  rendered  it  impossible  for  the  boat  to  pass. 
Got  in  the  boats.  At  a  quarter  past  10,  the 
Redoutable  sunk  by  the  stern.  Cut  the  tow,  and 
lost  two  cables  of  eight  and  a  half  inch,  and  a 
cable  of  five  inches,  with  the  prize." 

Midshipman  G.  A.  Barker  of  the  "Swiftsure" 
in  a  letter  home  gives  a  terrible  picture  of  the  last 
hours  of  the  hapless  "  Redoutable  " : — 

"  On  the  22nd  it  came  on  a  most  Violent  Gale 
of  wind,  the  Prize  in  Tow  seem*d  to  weather  it 
out  tolarable  well  notwithstanding  her  shatter 'd 
state  until  about  three  in  the  afternoon,  when  from 
her  rolUng  so  violently  in  a  heavy  sea,  she  carried 
away  her  fore  Mast,  the  only  mast  she  had  stand- 


300  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

ing.  Towards  the  evening  she  repeatedly  made 
signals  of  distress  to  us :  we  now  hoisted  out  our 
Boats,  and  sent  them  on  board  of  her  although 
there  was  a  very  high  Sea  and  we  were  afraid  the 
boats  would  be  swampt  alongside  the  Prize,  but 
they  happily  succeeded  in  saving  a  great  number, 
including  our  Lieut,  and  part  of  the  Seamen  we 
sent  on  board,  likewise  a  Lieut,  two  Midshipmen 
with  some  Seamen  belonging  to  the  Temeraire.^ 
If  our  situation  was  disagreeable  from  the  fatigue 
and  inclemency  of  the  weather  what  must  the 
unfortunate  Prisoners  have  suffered  on  board  with 
upwards  of  8  Thousand  men,  nearly  five  Hundred 
were  killed,  and  wounded  in  the  engagement, 
and  more  than  one  half  of  the  remainder  were 
drowned.  What  added  to  the  horrors  of  the  night 
was  the  inability  of  our  saving  them  all,  as  we 
could  no  longer  endanger  the  lives  of  our  people 
in  open  boats,  at  the  mercy  of  a  heavy  sea  and 
most  violent  Gale  of  Wind ;  at  about  lO.p.m.  the 
Redoutable  sunk,  and  the  Hawser,  by  which  we 
still  kept  her  in  Tow,  (in  order  if  the  weather 
should  moderate  and  the  Prize  be  able  to  weather 
the  tempestous  night)  was  carried  away  with  the 
violent  shock;  this  was  the  most  dreadful  scene 
that  can  be  imagined  as  we  could  distinctly  hear 

^  According  to  Captain  Lucas^  out  of  643  on  board  the  '^  Redout- 
able  "  on  the  morning  of  Trafalgar,  only  169  were  rescued  and  brought 
on  board  the  '^  Swiftsure,"  of  whom  70  were  wounded.  The  rest, 
474  in  number,  were  either  killed  in  the  battle  or  went  down  in  the 
ship. 


"SOME   EXPIRED   IN   THE   BOATS"  301 

the  cries  of  the  unhappy  people  we  could  no 
longer  assist.  Towards  the  morning  the  weather 
moderated  and  we  had  the  good  fortune,  to  save 
many  that  were  floating  past  on  rafts — at  9  a.m. 
discovered  a  large  raft  ahead  and  shortly  after 
another,  many  of  the  unfortunate  people  were 
seen  clinging  to  the  wreck,  the  merciless  sea 
threatening  almost  instant  destruction  to  them, 
the  Boats  were  immediately  lowered  down,  and 
we  happily  saved  thirty-six  people  from  the  Fury 
of  the  Waves.  When  the  Boats  came  alongside 
many  of  these  unfortunate  men  were  unable  to 
get  up  the  Ship's  side,  as  most  of  them  were  not 
only  fainting  from  fatigue,  but  were  wounded  in 
the  most  shocking  manner,  some  expired  in  the 
Boats  before  they  could  get  on  board,  completely 
exhausted  and  worn  out  with  struggling  to  pre- 
serve their  lives,  having  been  the  whole  of  a 
Tempestous  Night,  upon  a  few  crazy  planks  ex- 
posed to  every  inclemency  of  the  weather.  If  our 
Seamen  had  conducted  themselves  as  brave  men 
during  the  Action,  now  it  was  they  evinced  them- 
selves as  human,  and  generous,  as  they  were 
Brave.  When  these  unfortunate  people  came  on 
board  you  might  have  seen  them  cloathing  them 
as  well  as  a  scanty  stock  would  admit  of,  though 
scanty  yet  hard  earn'd,  and  that  in  the  Defence  of 
His  King,  his  Family,  and  Country  at  large."  ^ 

^  With  what  devotion  the  ''  Swiftsure's  "  officers  and  men  worked^ 
and  how  they  risked  their  lives,  on  behalf  of  their  former  foemen  in 


302  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

The  "Alge^iras"  met  with  a  fate  of  another 
kind.  On  board  her  the  British  prize  crew  were 
overpowered  by  their  French  prisoners,  as  the  con- 
sequence of  an  act  of  humanity,  and  the  ship  was 
recaptured  and  taken  into  Cadiz. 

The  "Alge9iras,"  dismasted  and  battered  by 
shot,  and  without  an  anchor  that  would  hold, 
drifted  away  from  the  British  Fleet  during  the  early 
hours  of  the  22nd,  directly  for  the  reefs  to  north- 
ward of  Cape  Trafalgar.  Lieutenant  Charles 
Bennett  of  the  "  Tonnant "  and  fifty  men  were  in 
charge  of  the  prize,  and  had  under  hatches  in  the 
hold  two  hundred  and  seventy  French  officers  and 

distress,  is  shown  by  the  following  account,  from  a  memoir  of  Lieu- 
tenant Thomas  Sykes,  Second  Lieutenant  of  the  "  Swiftsure  " : — 

"  It  being  observed  that  the  French  74-ship  Redoutable,  which  the 
Swiftsure  had  taken  in  tow,  was  rapidly  sinking,  Mr.  Sykes,  after 
every  eifort  had  been  apparently  made  by  the  boats  to  rescue  the  crew, 
and  when  the  approaching  darkness  rendered  any  further  attempt 
hazardous  in  the  extreme,  implored  his  captain,  Rutherford,  that  he 
might  be  allowed  to  make  one  more  trip.  By  dint  of  great  persuasion 
he  was  at  length  permitted  to  take  the  launch  and  proceed  on  his 
heroic  mission.  In  consequence  of  the  tremendous  rolling  of  the 
Redoutable  in  the  heavy  sea  which  had  set  in,  he  found  it  impossible 
to  get  close  to  her,  and  all  he  could  do  was  to  watch  the  lee-roll  of  the 
ship,  and  drag  into  his  boat  as  many  of  the  half-drowned  wretches  as 
could  be  laid  hold  of.  The  length  of  time  he  was  thus  occupied 
creating  the  greatest  alarm  in  the  mind  of  Capt.  Rutherford,  the 
latter  sent  in  quest  of  him  the  pinnace,  under  the  orders  of  the 
present  Commander  Thos.  Read.  On  being  joined  by  that  officer, 
Mr.  Sykes  directed  him  to  follow  his  example,  nor  did  the  two  desist 
in  their  humane  endeavours  until  their  boats  were  full.  They  then, 
after  they  had  both  been  given  up,  returned  to  their  ship;  and  in 
another  hour  the  Redoutable,  with  300  persons,  whom  it  had  not  been 
possible  to  save,  was  no  more." 


THE  PRISONERS  RETAKE  THE  ^^ALGECIRAS"     303 

men  as  prisoners.  At  daybreak  the  ship  was  too 
far  off  to  get  aid  from  the  fleet,  and  as  the  morn- 
ing advanced  they  neared  the  rocks  fast.  Lieu- 
tenant Bennett's  men  were  too  few  to  guard  the 
prisoners  and  to  rig  the  jury-masts  which  alone 
could  save  the  ship.  As  the  only  chance  for  those 
on  board,  the  Lieutenant  had  the  hatches  taken 
off  and  the  prisoners  set  free.  They  swarmed 
on  deck  and,  instantly,  headed  by  one  of  their  own 
officers.  Lieutenant  De  la  Bretonniere — whose 
action  "made  his  name"  in  the  French  Navy  and 
brought  him  his  flag  in  later  days — "  at  once  made 
it  clear  to  Bennett  that  they  resumed  possession 
of  the  ship :  if  he  and  his  men  did  not  agree,  they 
would  be  thrown  overboard ;  if  they  did,  and 
assisted  to  save  the  ship,  they  should  be  set  at 
liberty.  Under  these  circumstances  the  English- 
men yielded,  and  Englishmen  and  Frenchmen, 
working  together,  succeeded  in  getting  up  three 
topgallantmasts  as  jury-masts,  and  so  after  a 
perilous  navigation  fetching  into  Cadiz." ^ 

The  "  Bucentaure,"  Admiral  Villeneuve's  late 
flagship,  came  to  her  end  on  the  forenoon  of  the 
23rd,  when  she  was  driven  ashore  and  wrecked  at 

1  The  British  ensign  hoisted  on  board  the  ''Alge9iras"  was  for- 
warded by  Admiral  Rosily,  on  his  arrival  at  Cadiz  on  the  25th  of 
October,  to  the  Ministry  of  Marine  in  Paris.  It  was  later  sent  to  the 
Invalides,  where  it  was  destroyed,  burned,  in  1814,  with  the  other 
trophies  there,  by  order  of  General  Serrurier,  the  Governor,  to  pre- 
vent their  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Allies  then  nearing  Paris. 


304  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

the  entrance  to  Cadiz  harbour.  The  "  Conqueror  " 
had  the  "  Bucentaure  "  in  tow  up  to  that  morning, 
but  on  some  of  the  French  and  Spanish  ships 
that  had  escaped  into  Cadiz  taking  advantage  of 
a  lull  in  the  storm  to  attempt  a  sortie  for  the 
recovery  of  any  of  the  prizes  that  might  have  got 
adrift,  the  "  Conqueror  "  had  to  cast  the  "  Bucen- 
taure "  loose.  Thereupon  the  ship  drifted  inshore 
on  to  the  Puercos  rocks,  at  the  entrance  to  Cadiz 
harbour  and  within  a  mile  of  the  ramparts, 
where  she  went  to  pieces.  Most  of  those  on 
board,  including  the  British  prize  crew,  were 
rescued  by  boats  from  two  of  the  French  ships. 
The  British  party,  who  thus  found  themselves 
placed  in  the  power  of  the  enemy,  were  treated 
with  the  utmost  courtesy  and  kindness  at  Cadiz, 
and  sent  back  to  CoUingwood  later  on  under  a  flag 
of  truce. 

It  was  in  this  way  that  the  sortie  which  caused 
the  destruction  of  the  "  Bucentaure  "  came  about. 
During  Wednesday  morning,  the  23rd  of  October, 
there  was  a  break  in  the  weather,  and  the  storm 
seemed  as  if  it  were  dying  down.  Tempted  out 
by  the  lull  and  apparent  improvement,  and  the 
sight  of  several  half  dismasted  hulks  drifting  not 
far  in  the  offing,  while  only  a  few  British  ships 
were  apparently  at  hand,  certain  of  the  French 
and  Spanish  ships  which  had  escaped  into  Cadiz 
with  the  least  damage,  came  out  of  port  to  try  to 


COSMAO   LEADS   THE   SORTIE  305 

recover  something  after  Monday's  disaster.  The 
sortie  itself  was  in  its  inception  a  fine  display 
of  hardihood,  after  the  disaster  of  forty-eight  hours 
before.  It  was  due  to  the  initiative  of  the  gallant 
Cosmao  Kerjulien,  the  senior  surviving  captain 
in  the  French  Fleet.  He  headed  the  sortie  in  his 
own  ship,  the  sorely  battered  "Pluton,"  though 
she  was  hardly  seaworthy  in  face  of  the  weather 
outside.  Five  of  the  line— the  "Pluton,"  "In- 
domptable,"  "  Neptune,"  "  Rayo,"  and  "  San  Fran- 
cisco de  Asis" — with  as  many  frigates,  and  two 
brigs,  made  the  sally.  They  were  able  to  recover 
two  ships.  One  was  the  three-decker  "  Santa  Ana," 
with  the  wounded  Admiral  Alava  on  board.  She 
was  drifting  inshore,  within  two  miles  of  Cadiz, 
in  tow  of  the  "  Thunderer,"  when  the  French  and 
Spaniards  were  seen  coming  out.  The  "  Thun- 
derer," in  order  "  to  clear  the  enemy,"  had  to  cast 
the  "  Santa  Ana"  off,  after  withdrawing  the  British 
prize  crew,  and  the  enemy  retook  possession  forth- 
with and  carried  the  "Santa  Ana"  back  into  Cadiz. 
The  second  ship  retaken  was  another  Spaniard,  the 
"Neptuno,"  which  had  broken  adrift  from  the 
"  Minotaur  "  on  the  afternoon  of  the  22nd,  and  by 
herself  was  driving  ashore,  when  a  French  frigate 
intercepted  her  and  took  her  also  successfully  into 
Cadiz  Bay,  to  be  stranded  there,  however,  some 
days  later. 

The  retaking  of  the  "  Santa  Ana  "  and  "  Nep- 
tuno"  was  all  that  Cosmao  was  able  to  effect. 


306  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

Hardly  had  the  Franco-Spanish  squadron  gained 
the  offing  when  down  came  the  gale  once  more ; 
and  at  the  same  time  they  became  aware  of  the 
approach  of  CoUingwood  himself  with  ten  sail  of 
the  line,  formed  up  by  signal  to  cover  the  prizes. 
Daunted  by  such  a  show  of  force,  the  Franco- 
Spaniards  turned  back  and  made  for  Cadiz  again. 
They  lost  on  the  way  three  of  their  number. 
The  French  "  Indomptable,"  a  big  80-gun  two- 
decker,  blundered  across  to  Rota,  on  the  northern 
side  of  Cadiz  Bay,  on  Thursday  morning,  and  was 
wrecked  there.  She  had  upwards  of  a  thousand 
men  on  board,  from  all  accounts,  including  extra 
hands  intended  to  man  the  ships  it  was  hoped 
to  recapture.  Apparently  every  man  on  board 
perished,  including  the  survivors  from  the  French 
flagship  "  Bucentaure "  —  five  officers  and  two 
hundred  men.  The  "San  Francisco  de  Asis,"  a 
Spanish  74,  anchored  outside  safely,  but  parted 
her  cables  and  drove  ashore  in  Cadiz  Bay,  near 
Fort  Sta.  Catalina.  The  third  ship,  the  Spanish 
three-decker  "Rayo"  of  100  guns,  unable  to  regain 
Cadiz,  anchored  off  San  Lucar,  some  miles  up  the 
coast,  rolled  her  masts  overboard,  and  had  to  sur- 
render at  discretion  to  the  British  74  "  Donegal " 
(Captain  Sir  Pulteney  Malcolm),  which  came  on  the 
scene  fresh  from  Gibraltar.  The  "  Leviathan  "  was 
in  company.  "  On  a  shot  being  fired  at  her,  she 
hauled  down  her  colours  and  surrendered."  The 
"Rayo,"  three  days  later,  while  in  charge  of  a 


A  MIDSHIPMAN'S  NIGHT  IN  THE  ^^MONARCA"     307 

prize  crew,  "  after  a  number  of  her  men  had  been 
removed  from  the  ship,  drove  from  her  anchors 
and  was  totally  lost.  Many  Spaniards,  and  some 
of  the  English  officers  and  crew  perished  in  her." 

The  "  Monarca,"  with  her  British  prize  crew  on 
board,  was  drifting  in  a  crippled  state  on  to  the 
dangerous  shoals  off  San  Lucar  when  she  was  over- 
taken, during  Thursday  afternoon  (the  24th),  by 
the  "Leviathan."  Sending  his  boats  alongside, 
Captain  Bayntun  removed  the  prize  crew  and  the 
greater  number  of  the  Spanish  prisoners,  and  then 
anchored  the  "  Monarca  "  for  the  night.  Before 
morning,  however,  the  ship  broke  away  from 
her  cables  in  a  sudden  squall,  drove  ashore  and 
went  to  pieces.  A  party  from  the  British  "Bel- 
lerophon  "  had  been  in  charge  of  the  "  Monarca," 
and  a  midshipman  from  that  ship  describes  how 
the  end  came  on. 

"  You  will  imagine  what  have  been  our  suffer- 
ings, in  a  crippled  ship,  with  500  prisoners  on 
board  and  only  55  Enghshmen,  most  of  whom 
were  in  a  constant  state  of  intoxication.  We 
rolled  away  all  our  masts  except  the  foremast; 
were  afterwards  forced  to  cut  away  2  anchors, 
heave  overboard  several  guns,  shot,  &c.  to  lighten 
her ;  and  were,  after  all,  in  such  imminent  danger 
of  sinking  that,  seeing  no  ship  near  to  assist  us,  we 
at  length  determined  to  run  the  ship  on  shore  on 
the  Spanish  coast,  which  we  should  have  done  had 


308  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

not  the  Leviathan  fortunately  fallen  in  with  us 
and  saved  us,  and  all  but  about  150  Spaniards. 
The  ship  then  went  ashore  and  was  afterwards 
destroyed." 

A  letter,  possibly  from  the  same  young  officer, 
was  published  (without  the  writer's  name)  in  a 
Portsmouth  newspaper.  It  is  dated  "  Bellerophon 
off  the  Start,  Dec.  2,  1805,"  and  gives  terribly 
vivid  details  of  the  state  of  things  on  board  the 
"  Monarca." 

"  Our  second  Lieutenant,  myself,  and  eight  men, 
formed  the  party  that  took  possession  of  the 
Monarca :  we  remained  until  the  morning  without 
further  assistance,  or  we  should  most  probably 
have  saved  her,  though  she  had  suffered  much 
more  than  ourselves.  We  kept  possession  of  her, 
however,  for  four  days,  in  the  most  dreadful 
weather,  when,  having  rolled  away  all  our  masts, 
and  being  in  danger  of  immediately  sinking  or 
running  on  shore,  we  were  fortunately  saved  by 
the  Leviathan,  with  all  but  about  150  prisoners, 
who  were  afraid  of  getting  into  the  boats.  I  can 
assure  you  I  felt  not  the  least  fear  of  death 
during  the  action,  which  I  attribute  to  the  general 
confidence  of  victory  which  I  saw  all  around  me ; 
but  in  the  prize,  when  I  was  in  danger  of,  and  had 
time  to  reflect  upon  the  approach  of  death,  either 
from  the  rising  of  the  Spaniards  upon  so  small  a 
number  as  we  were  composed  of,  or  what  latterly 
appeared  inevitable,  from  the  violence  of  the  storm, 


^a  WRAPPED  MYSELF  UP  IN  A  UNION  JACK"     309 

I  was  most  certainly  afraid,  and  at  one  time,  when 
the  ship  made  three  feet  of  water  in  ten  minutes, 
when  our  people  were  almost  all  lying  drunk  upon 
deck,  when  the  Spaniards,  completely  worn  out 
with  fatigue,  would  no  longer  work  at  the  only 
chain  pump  left  serviceable,  when  I  saw  the  fear 
of  death  so  strongly  depicted  on  the  countenances 
of  all  around  me,  I  wrapped  myself  up  in  a  Union 
Jack,  and  lay  down  upon  deck  for  a  short  time, 
quietly  awaiting  the  approach  of  death ;  but  the 
love  of  life  soon  after  again  roused  me,  and  after 
great  exertions  on  the  part  of  the  British  and 
Spanish  officers,  who  had  joined  together  for  the 
mutual  preservation  of  their  lives,  we  got  the  ship 
before  the  wind,  determined  to  run  her  on  shore : 
this  was  at  midnight,  but  at  daylight  in  the  morn- 
ing, the  weather  being  more  moderate,  and  having 
again  gained  upon  the  water,  we  hauled  our  wind." 

The  "  Aigle  "  stranded  off  Port  St.  Mary's,  and 
was  wrecked  during  Friday  night,  after  being  forced 
by  the  weather  into  Cadiz  Bay,  in  spite  of  every 
effort  by  the  "  Defiance  "  to  keep  her  out. 

The  "Berwick,"  on  the  afternoon  of  the  27th, 
"after  having  anchored  in  apparent  safety,  was 
wrecked  off  San  Lucar,  entirely  owing  to  the 
frenzied  behaviour  of  a  portion  of  the  prisoners, 
who  cut  the  cables.  The  Donegal,  being  at 
anchor  near  by,  cut  her  own  cables,  and,  standing 
towards  the  drifting  ship,  sent  her  boats  to  save 


310  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

the  people  on  board.  This  noble  proceeding  of 
Captain  Malcolm  was  only  partially  successful, 
when  the  Berwick  struck  upon  the  shoal,  and  in 
her  perished  about  200  persons."  ^ 

On  the  24th  of  October  the  "Britannia,"  "Orion," 
and  "  Ajax,"  in  pursuance  of  CoUingwood's  order, 
"  Quit  and  withdraw  men  from  prizes  after  having 
destroyed  or  disabled  them,"  cleared  the  "Intre- 
pide"  of  the  prisoners  on  board,  and  at  eight 
o'clock  that  evening  the  "Britannia"  set  the  empty 
hulk  on  fire.  She  blew  up  a  little  after  nine 
o'clock.  "At  8,"  in  the  words  of  the  "Orion's" 
log,  "  received  all  the  prisoners  from  on  board  her. 
At  8.30  perceived  the  fire  to  have  taken.  ...  At 
9.30  the  Intrepide  blew  up."  On  the  27th  and 
28th  the  "  Orion  "  and  the  "  Leviathan  "  took  out 
prisoners  from  the  "San  Agustin,"  nearly  three 
hundred  men  in  number.  On  the  30th  the 
"  Leviathan  "  destroyed  her,  and  with  the  "  Ajax  " 
sank  the  "  Argonauta,"  "  the  finest  two-decker  in 
the  world."  Says  the  "Leviathan's"  log:  "  October 
80th :  Received  some  Warrant  officers'  stores  from 
the  San  Agustin.  Set  her  on  fire;  about  8,  she 
blew  up.  The  Argonauta  was  scuttled  at  her 
anchor." 

What  remained  of  the  wrecked  ships  was  de- 

*  The  figure-head  of  the  '*  Berwick  "  was  picked  up  floating  in  the 
surf  and  brought  to  England,  where  it  was  long  preserved  at  Devon- 
port  Dockyard.  It  was  destroyed  there  in  the  great  fire  of  September, 
1840,  in  which  so  many  other  historic  relics  of  the  fighting  days  of 
the  Old  Navy  perished. 


ONLY   FOUR    PRIZES   SAVED  311 

stroyed  on  the  morning  of  the  31st,  when  the 
British  frigate  "Naiad"  set  fire  to  the  wrecks  of 
the  "Rayo"  and  "Neptuno"  off  San  Lucar— 
"  both  aground,"  in  the  words  of  the  ship's  log,  "to 
the  westward  of  San  Lucar."  The  log  proceeds : 
"Saw  a  French  Une  of  battle  ship,  the  Berwick, 
74  guns,  totally  lost,  having  parted  asunder  amid- 
ships. November  1st  a.m.  At  1  observed  the 
Neptuno  blow  up.  At  4  the  Rayo  in  full  blaze. 
At  6  in  boats.  Weighed  and  made  sail."  So  all 
Nelson's  Trafalgar  prizes  except  four  perished. 

Four  ships,  one  French  and  three  Spanish, 
escaped  destruction.  "Four  only  remained  as 
trophies  of  the  victory,  and  these  by  cruel  chance 
happened  to  be  the  most  worthless.  They  were 
the  (French)  Swiftsure,  the  San  Ildefonso,  San 
Juan  Nepomuceno  and  Bahama,  but  they  made  no 
effective  addition  to  the  English  Navy."  Their 
preservation,  too,  was  only  effected  with  great 
difficulty.  The  "Defence,"  after  a  very  anxious 
time  and  a  succession  of  mishaps,  anchored  with 
the  "San  Ildefonso,"  and  "with  four  cables  an 
end  on  one  anchor  and  one  on  another  "  rode  the 
storm  out.  The  "Bahama,"  which  the  "Orion" 
had  in  charge,  came  within  an  ace  of  perishing. 
"  I  kept  the  Bahama  with  the  poor  lieutenant  and 
his  four  men  in  tow,"  says  Captain  Codrington, 
"  until  the  absolute  necessity  of  getting  the  ship's 
head  the  other  way  obliged  me  to  cast  him  off, 


312  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

and  the  opportunity  of  the  violence  of  the  wind 
abating  a  little,  allowed  of  making  the  necessary 
sail  to  claw  the  ship  off  shore ;  and  you  may  judge 
of  the  pain  I  felt  on  seeing  her  signals  of  distress 
in  consequence  of  being  left  in  so  hopeless  a 
situation !  The  necessity  of  the  case,  however, 
raised  a  little  unusual  exertion  in  the  poor 
Spaniards,  and,  by  getting  up  an  anchor  out  of 
the  hold  and  letting  it  go,  they  saved  both  the 
vessel  and  their  lives  ;  and  she  is  now  in  Gibraltar 
Mole,  waiting  the  opportunity  of  going  to  England. 
She  was  finally  saved  by  the  unremitting  exertions 
of  the  Donegal."  The  "  San  Ildefonso  "  and  the 
"  Bahama,"  with  the  ex-British  "  Swiftsure,"  were 
brought  to  England  in  May  under  escort  of  the 
"Britannia."  ^  The  "  Bahama"  and  the  "  Swiftsure  " 
(renamed  somewhat  meaninglessly  the  "Irresis- 
tible"), were  made  prison  hulks  in  the  Medway. 
The  "  San  Ildefonso  "  was  made  a  receiving  hulk  at 
Portsmouth.  All  three  were  broken  up  in  1816. 
The  "  San  Juan  Nepomuceno,"  an  old  ship,  in  her 
fortieth  year  at  Trafalgar,  was,  as  has  been  said, 
kept  as  a  hulk  at  Gibraltar. 

None  of  the  five  French  ships  of  the  line  which 
escaped  into  Cadiz  harbour,  it  may  be  added,  ever 
saw  a  French  port  again.  CoUingwood  held  them 
fast  there  until,  in  June,  1808,  Spain  rose  against 
Napoleon.     Admiral   Rosily,  who  had   remained 

1  They  arrived  at  Spithead  on  the  16th  of  May,  1806,  escorted 
by  Lord  Northesk  with  the  '^ Britannia "  and  "Dreadnought." 


TWO   FRENCH    FLAGS   AT   MADRID  313 

in  command,  with  his  squadron,  unable  to  escape, 
were  attacked  at  close  quarters  by  the  Spanish  land 
batteries,  and  had  to  surrender  at  discretion.  The 
Spanish  Navy  took  over  the  ships,  and  found  em- 
ployment for  them  as  harbour  hulks  for  many 
years.  The  last  left,  the  "  Heros,"  was  broken 
up  at  Ferrol  in  1860.  Her  ensign  and  Admiral 
Rosily's  flag  are  now  kept  as  trophies  at  the  Naval 
Museum  in  Madrid.  Most  of  the  French  seamen 
surrendered  with  their  ships.  The  unfortunate 
fellows  had  just  received  orders  to  furnish  a  corps 
of  four  hundred  men  and  march  to  Madrid  to  join 
the  "  Seamen  of  the  Guard,"  which  Marshal  Junot 
had  brought  with  him  into  Spain  in  his  army  of 
occupation,  when  the  rising  of  the  peasantry  of 
Andalusia  prevented  their  setting  out ;  and  then 
came  the  debacle  at  Cadiz  of  the  14th  of  June,  1808. 


CHAPTER    XXIV 

THE     LAST    HOURS    OF    THE    "SANTISIMA 
TRINIDAD" 

THE  great  prize  of  all  to  the  British,  the  mighty 
"  Santisima  Trinidad"  went — or  was  sent — to 
the  bottom  on  the  24th.  ColUngwood  had  that 
morning  signalled  the  order  to  destroy  her  and 
other  prizes  that  it  seemed  impossible  to  save,  but 
the  accounts  as  to  how  the  "Trinidad"  actually 
came  to  her  end,  differ.  One  account  says  she  was 
scuttled  and  sank  at  anchor.  Another  that  she 
was  destroyed  as  she  was  "drifting  unmanageable 
on  to  the  coast."  Before  the  end,  every  effort  was 
made  to  save  those  on  board  and  clear  the  ship  of 
the  wounded  and  prisoners.  The  wounded  were 
got  out  of  the  ship  by  lowering  them  with  ropes 
from  the  stern  and  quarter  gallery  windows 
into  the  boats  of  the  British  ships  "Prince," 
"  Neptune,"  and  "  Ajax."  Whether  all  were  got 
out  of  the  ship  is  uncertain.  The  "  Ajax's  "  lieu- 
tenant declared  that  they  were. 

"  Everything  alive  was  taken  out,"  he  said,  "down 
to  the  ship's  cat.  His  boat  was  the  last  to  leave. 
They  had  put  off  from  the  starboard  quarter  when 

314 


BRITISH  OFFICERS  RELATE  WHAT  THEY  SAW    315 

a  cat,  the  only  living  animal  aboard,  ran  out  on 
the  muzzle  of  one  of  the  lower-deck  guns  and  by 
a  plaintive  mew  seemed  to  beg  for  assistance :  the 
boat  returned  and  took  her  in." 

Midshipman  Badcock,  of  the  "  Neptune,"  gives 
this  account  of  how  the  "  Santisima  Trinidad" 
came  to  her  end  : — 

"  I  was  sent  on  board  the  "  Santissima  Trini- 
dada  a  few  days  after  the  action  to  assist  in 
getting  out  the  wounded  men  previous  to  destroy- 
ing her.  She  was  a  magnificent  ship,  and  ought 
now  to  be  in  Portsmouth  Harbour.  Her  top-sides 
it  is  true  were  perfectly  riddled  by  our  firing,  and 
she  had,  if  I  recollect  right,  550  killed  and 
wounded,  but  from  the  lower  part  of  the  sills  of 
the  lower-deck  ports  to  the  water's  edge,  few  shot 
of  consequence  had  hurt  her  between  wind  and 
water,  and  those  were  all  plugged  up.  She  was 
built  of  cedar,  and  would  have  lasted  for  ages, 
a  glorious  trophy  of  the  battle,  but  '  sink,  burn, 
and  destroy'  was  the  order  of  the  day,  and  after 
a  great  deal  of  trouble,  scuttling  her  in  many 
places,  hauling  up  her  lower-deck  ports — that  when 
she  rolled  a  heavy  sea  might  fill  her  decks  —  she 
did  at  last  unwillingly  go  to  the  bottom." 

Says  Captain  Brenton,  describing  the  end  of  the 
"  Trinidad  "  :— 

"Night  came  on — the  swell  ran  high — three 
lower-deck  ports  on  each  side  were  open,  and  in 
a  few  minutes  the  tremendous  ruins  of  the  largest 


316  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

ship  in  the  world  were  buried  in  the  deep.  The 
waves  passed  over  her,  she  gave  a  lurch,  and  went 
down." 

An  officer  of  the  "Prince,"  Lieutenant  John 
Edwards,  the  third  lieutenant,  who  was  sent  to  the 
"  Santisima  Trinidad,"  and  was  one  of  the  last  to 
leave  the  ship,  thus  describes  what  he  saw  and  his 
experiences  on  board  : — 

"All  the  necessary  signals  were  made  to  leave 
the  prizes,  and  we,  being  effective,  took  the  Trini- 
dad, the  largest  ship  in  the  world,  in  tow ;  all  the 
other  ships  that  could  render  assistance  to  the  dis- 
abled doing  the  same.  Before  four  in  the  morn  it 
blew  so  strong  that  we  broke  the  hawsers  twice, 
and  from  two  such  immense  bodies  as  we  were, 
found  it  difficult  to  secure  her  again ;  however, 
every  exertion  was  made,  and  we  got  her  again. 
By  eight  in  the  morning  it  blew  a  hurricane  on  the 
shore,  and  so  close  in  that  we  could  not  weather 
the  land  either  way.  'Tis  impossible  to  describe  the 
horrors  the  morning  presented,  nothing  but  signals 
of  distress  flying  in  every  direction,  guns  firing, 
and  so  many  large  ships  driving  on  shore  without 
being  able  to  render  them  the  least  assistance. 
After  driving  about  four  days  without  any  prospect 
of  saving  the  ship  or  the  gale  abating,  the  signal 
was  made  to  destroy  the  prizes.  We  had  no  time 
before  to  remove  the  prisoners,  and  it  now  became 
a  most  dangerous  task ;  no  boats  could  lie  along- 
side, we  got  under  her  stern,  and  the  men  dropped 


TYING  THE  WOUNDED   ROUND  THEIR  WAISTS     317 

in  by  ropes ;  but  what  a  sight  when  we  came  to 
remove  the  wounded,  which  there  were  between 
three  and  four  hundred.  We  had  to  tie  the  poor 
mangled  wretches  round  their  waists,  or  where  we 
could,  and  lower  them  down  into  a  tumbUng  boat, 
some  without  arms,  others  no  legs,  and  lacerated 
all  over  in  the  most  dreadful  manner.  About  ten 
o'clock  we  had  got  all  out,  to  about  thirty-three 
or  four,  which  I  believe  it  was  impossible  to  remove 
without  instant  death.  The  water  was  now  at  the 
pilot  deck,  the  weather  dark  and  boisterous,  and 
taking  in  tons  at  every  roll,  when  we  quitted  her, 
and  supposed  this  superb  ship  could  not  remain 
afloat  longer  than  ten  minutes.  Perhaps  she  sunk 
in  less  time,  with  the  above  unfortimate  victims, 
never  to  rise  again." 

The  following  incidents  connected  with  the 
taking  off  of  the  Spaniards  from  the  "  Santisima 
Trinidad"  are  related  by  a  seaman  of  the 
"  Revenge  " : — 

"  On  quitting  the  ship  our  boats  were  so  over- 
loaded in  endeavouring  to  save  all  the  lives  we 
could,  that  it  is  a  miracle  they  were  not  upset.  A 
father  and  his  son  came  down  the  ship's  side  to 
get  on  board  one  of  our  boats ;  the  father  had 
seated  himself,  but  the  men  in  the  boat,  thinking 
from  the  load  and  the  boisterous  weather  that  all 
their  lives  would  be  in  peril,  could  not  think  of 
taking  the  boy.  As  the  boat  put  off  the  lad,  as 
though  determined  not  to  quit  his  father,  sprang 


318  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

from  the  ship  into  the  sea  and  caught  hold  of  the 
gunwale  of  the  boat,  but  his  attempt  was  resisted, 
as  it  risked  all  their  lives ;  and  some  of  the  men 
resorted  to  their  cutlasses  to  cut  his  fingers  off 
in  order  to  disentangle  the  boat  from  his  grasp. 
At  the  same  time  the  feelings  of  the  father  were  so 
worked  upon  that  he  was  about  to  leap  overboard 
and  perish  with  his  son.  Britons  could  face  an 
enemy  but  could  not  witness  such  a  scene  of  self- 
devotion  :  as  it  were  a  simultaneous  thought  burst 
forth  from  the  crew,  which  said,  '  Let  us  save  both 
father  and  son  or  die  in  the  attempt ! '  The 
Almighty  aided  their  design,  they  succeeded  and 
brought  both  father  and  son  safe  on  board  our 
ship  where  they  remained,  until  with  other  prisoners 
they  were  exchanged  at  Gibraltar." 

The  second  incident  of  the  last  hours  of  the 
"Santisima  Trinidad,"  taken  from  the  same  source, 
is  the  following: — 

"  We  were  obliged  to  abandon  our  prize,  taking 
away  with  us  all  our  men  and  as  many  of  the 
prisoners  as  we  could.  On  the  last  boat's  load 
leaving  the  ship,  the  Spaniards  who  were  left  on 
board  appeared  on  the  gangway  and  ship's  side, 
displaying  their  bags  of  dollars  and  doubloons 
and  eagerly  offering  them  as  a  reward  for  saving 
them  from  the  expected  and  unavoidable  wreck ; 
but  however  well  inclined  we  were,  it  was  not  in 
our  power  to  rescue  them,  or  it  would  have  been 
effected  without  the  proffered  bribe." 


WHAT   THE   PRISONERS   WENT   THROUGH     319 

This,  according  to  Perez  Galdos,  in  his  "  Trafal- 
gar," is  what  the  Spanish  prisoners  went  through 
on  board  the  "  Santisima  Trinidad."  The  account 
is  put  in  the  mouth  of  the  narrator  whose  descrip- 
tion of  incidents  of  the  battle  has  been  previously 
quoted.  The  story,  based  as  it  is  on  historical 
documents,  follows  very  closely  what  is  generally 
known  by  us  of  the  event : — 

"  Night  fell,  increasing  the  misery  and  horror  of 
our  situation.  It  might  have  been  hoped  that 
nature  would  be  on  our  side  after  so  much  dis- 
aster, but,  on  the  contrary,  the  elements  lashed  us 
with  their  fury  as  though  Heaven  thought  our  cup 
of  misfortune  was  not  yet  full.  A  tremendous 
storm  burst  and  the  winds  and  waves  tossed  and 
buffeted  our  ship  in  their  fury,  while,  as  she 
could  not  be  worked,  she  was  utterly  at  their 
mercy.  The  rolling  was  so  terrible  that  it  was 
very  difficult  even  to  work  the  pumps ;  and  this, 
combined  with  the  exhausted  condition  of  the  men, 
made  our  condition  grow  worse  every  minute.  An 
EngUsh  vessel,  which  we  learnt  was  the  Prince, 
tried  to  take  us  in  tow,  but  her  efforts  were  in  vain 
and  she  was  forced  to  keep  off  for  fear  of  a  colli- 
sion, which  would  have  been  fatal  to  both. 

"The  same  confusion  prevailed  below  as  on 
deck.  Those  who  had  escaped  unhurt  were  doing 
what  they  could  to  aid  the  wounded,  and  these, 
disturbed  by  the  motion  of  the  vessel  which  pre- 
vented their  getting  any  rest,  were  so  pitiable  a 


320  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

sight  that  it  was  impossible  to  resign  oneself  to 
sleep.  On  one  side,  covered  with  the  Spanish 
flag,  lay  the  bodies  of  the  officers  who  had  been 
killed ;  and  in  the  midst  of  all  this  misery,  sur- 
rounded by  so  much  suffering,  these  poor  corpses 
seemed  really  to  be  envied.  They  alone  on  board 
the  Trinidad  were  at  rest,  to  them  nothing  mat- 
tered now ;  fatigue  and  pain,  the  disgrace  of  defeat, 
or  physical  sufferings.  The  standard  which  served 
them  as  a  glorious  winding-sheet  shut  them  out, 
as  it  were,  from  the  world  of  responsibility,  of 
dishonour,  and  of  despair,  in  which  we  were  left 
behind.  They  could  not  care  for  the  danger  the 
vessel  was  in,  for  to  them  it  was  no  longer  any- 
thing but  a  coffin. 


"Never  shall  I  forget  the  moment  when  the 
bodies  were  cast  into  the  sea,  by  order  of  the 
English  officer  in  charge  of  the  ship.  The  dismal 
ceremony  took  place  on  the  morning  of  the  22nd, 
when  the  storm  seemed  to  be  at  its  wildest  on 
purpose  to  add  to  the  terrors  of  the  scene.  The 
bodies  of  the  officers  were  brought  on  deck,  the 
priest  said  a  short  prayer,  for  this  was  no  time  for 
elaborate  ceremonial,  and  our  melancholy  task 
began.  Each  wrapped  in  a  flag,  with  a  cannon-ball 
tied  to  his  feet,  was  dropped  into  the  waves  with- 
out any  of  the  solemn  and  painful  emotion  which 
under  ordinary  circumstances  would  have  agitated 


NOT  SHROUDS  ENOUGH  FOR  ALL     321 

the  lookers-on.  Our  spirits  were  so  quelled  by 
disaster  that  the  contemplation  of  death  had  be- 
come almost  indifference. 


# 


"The  sailors  were  thrown  overboard  with  less 
ceremony.  The  regulation  is  that  they  shall  be  tied 
up  in  their  hammocks,  but  there  was  no  time  to 
carry  this  out.  Some  indeed  were  wrapped  round 
as  the  rules  require,  but  most  of  them  were  thrown 
into  the  sea  without  any  shroud  or  ball  at  their 
feet,  for  the  simple  reason  that  there  was  not 
enough  for  all.  There  were  four  hundred  of  them, 
more  or  less,  and  merely  to  clear  them  overboard 
and  out  of  sight  every  able-bodied  man  that  was 
left  had  to  lend  a  hand,  so  as  to  get  it  done  as 
quickly  as  possible. 

"As  the  day  advanced  the  Prince  attempted 
once  more  to  take  the  Santisima  Trinidad  in 
tow,  but  with  no  better  success  than  before.  Our 
situation  was  no  worse,  although  the  tempest  raged 
with  undiminished  fury,  for  a  good  deal  of  the 
mischief  had  been  patched  up,  and  we  thought 
that  if  the  weather  should  mend,  the  hulk,  at  any 
rate,  might  be  saved.  The  English  made  a  great 
point  of  it,  for  they  were  very  anxious  to  take  the 
largest  man-of-war  ever  seen  afloat  into  Gibraltar 
as  a  trophy ;  so  they  willingly  plied  the  pumps  by 
night  and  by  day  and  allowed  us  to  rest  awhile. 
All  through  the  day  on  the  22nd  the  sea  continued 


322  THE  ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

terrific,  tossing  the  huge  and  helpless  vessel  as 
though  it  were  a  little  fishing  boat;  and  the 
enormous  mass  of  timber  proved  the  soundness  of 
her  build  by  not  simply  falling  to  pieces  under  the 
furious  lashing  of  the  waters.  At  some  moments 
she  rolled  so  completely  over  on  her  beam  ends 
that  it  seemed  as  though  she  must  go  to  the 
bottom ;  but  suddenly  the  wave  would  fly  off 
in  smoke,  as  it  were,  before  the  hurricane,  while 
the  ship,  righting  herself,  rode  over  it  with  a  toss 
of  her  mighty  prow. 

"  On  all  sides  we  could  see  the  scattered  fleets  ; 
many  of  the  ships  were  English,  severely  damaged 
and  striving  to  get  shelter  under  the  coast.  There 
were  Frenchmen  and  Spaniards  too,  some  dis- 
masted, others  in  tow  of  the  enemy.  .  .  .  Floating 
about  were  myriads  of  fragments  and  masses  of 
wreck — spars,  timbers,  broken  boats,  hatches,  bul- 
warks, and  doors — besides  two  unfortunate  sailors 
who  were  clinging  to  a  plank,  and  who  must  have 
been  swept  off  and  drowned  if  the  English  had 
not  hastened  to  rescue  them.  They  were  brought 
on  board  more  dead  than  alive,  and  their  resuscita- 
tion after  being  in  the  very  jaws  of  death  was  like 
a  new  birth  to  them. 

"  That  day  went  by  between  agonies  and  hopes : 
— now  we  thought  nothing  could  save  the  ship 
and  that  we  must  be  taken  on  board  an  English- 
man, then  again  we  hoped  to  keep  her  afloat.  The 
idea  of  being  taken  into  Gibraltar  as  prisoners  was 


"NO   TIME   FOR   PITY"  323 

intolerable.  However,  all  the  torment  of  suspense, 
at  any  rate,  was  relieved  by  the  evening,  when  it 
was  unanimously  agreed  that  if  we  were  not 
transferred  to  an  English  ship  at  once,  to  the 
bottom  we  must  go  with  the  vessel,  which  had 
now  five  feet  of  water  in  the  hold.  The  task  was 
at  once  begun  in  the  doubtful  twilight,  and  as 
there  were  above  three  hundred  wounded  to  be 
transferred  it  was  no  easy  matter.  The  available 
number  of  hands  was  about  five  hundred,  all  that 
were  left  uninjured  of  the  original  crew  of  eleven 
hundred  and  fifteen  before  the  battle. 

"  We  set  to  work  promptly  with  the  launches  of 
the  Trinidad  and  the  Prince,  and  three  other  boats 
belonging  to  the  EngUsh.  The  wounded  were 
attended  to  first,  but  though  they  were  lifted  with 
all  possible  care  they  could  not  be  moved  without 
much  suffering,  and  some  entreated  with  groans 
and  shrieks  to  be  left  in  peace,  preferring  imme- 
diate death  to  anything  that  could  aggravate  and 
prolong  their  torments.  But  there  was  no  time  for 
pity,  and  they  were  carried  to  the  boats  as  ruth- 
lessly as  the  cold  corpses  of  their  comrades  had 
been  flung  into  the  sea. 

"  I  thought  only  of  saving  my  life,  and  to  stay 
on  board  a  foundering  vessel  was  not  the  best 
means  to  that  end.  Nor  were  my  fears  ill-founded  ; 
for  not  more  than  half  the  men  had  been  taken 
off  when  a  dull  roar  of  terror  echoed  through 
the  ship. 


324  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

" '  She  is  going  to  the  bottom ! — to  the  boats,  to 
the  boats ! '  shouted  some,  and  there  was  a  rush 
to  the  ship's  side,  all  looking  out  eagerly  for 
the  return  of  the  boats.  Every  attempt  at  work 
or  order  was  given  up,  the  wounded  were  for- 
gotten, and  several  who  had  been  brought  on 
deck  dragged  themselves  to  the  side  in  a  sort  of 
delirium,  to  seek  an  opening  and  throw  themselves 
into  the  sea.  Up  through  the  hatchways  came  a 
hideous  shriek,  which  I  think  I  can  hear  as  I  write. 
It  came  from  the  poor  wretches  on  the  lower 
deck,  who  already  felt  the  waters  rising  to  drown 
them  and  vainly  cried  for  help  to  God  or  men — 
who  can  tell  ?  Vainly  indeed  to  men,  for  they  had 
enough  to  do  to  save  themselves.  They  jumped 
wildly  into  the  boats,  and  this  confusion  in  the 
darkness  hindered  progress." 

[There  is  a  canvas  in  one  of  the  galleries  of  the 
Museo  Naval  at  Madrid,  depicting  the  sinking  of 
the  "Santisima  Trinidad"  after  Trafalgar,  and 
showing  the  boats  of  the  British  ships  engaged  in 
their  work  of  rescue.] 


CHAPTER    XXV 

WHAT  THEY  HEARD  AND   SAW  AT  CADIZ 

AT  Cadiz,  all  through  that  dreadful  Monday 
-^  afternoon,  the  crowd  of  watchers,  gazing  sea- 
ward from  the  miradores  and  azoteas  and  the  house 
roofs  and  from  the  city  ramparts,  could  see  the 
smoke  of  the  firing  along  the  horizon  to  the  south- 
west, and  hear,  hour  after  hour,  the  dull  rever- 
berating thunder  of  the  guns.  Far  and  wide  the 
heavy  booming  of  the  cannonade  re-echoed  inland, 
we  are  told,  across  nearly  half  Andalusia ;  over 
the  orange  groves  and  cork  woods  of  Medina 
Sidonia,  name  of  ill-omen  on  such  a  day  as  that, 
along  the  hillsides  of  Conil,  and  away,  indeed, 
to  the  distant  mountain  caves  of  Ronda.  At 
Gibraltar,  off  the  direct  course  of  the  wind  as  it 
then  held,  they  heard  nothing  all  day.  From 
Tangier  they  both  saw  smoke  and  heard  distant 
firing.  An  old  Moor  died  just  ten  years  ago  who 
well  remembered,  as  a  boy,  sitting  with  others  on 
a  hillside  near  the  city,  listening  with  wonder  to 
the  sullen  thunder  that  came  up  from  beyond  the 
sea-line  afar,  and  watch  ng  a  strange,  low,  grey 

325 


326  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

smoke-cloud  that  rose  like  a  mound  at  one  point 
on  the  horizon  to  the  north-west. 

Two  letters  from  Cadiz,  received  in  London  by 
the  Lisbon  packet  of  the  15th  of  November  say 
something  of  what  those  on  shore  saw,  and  de- 
scribe, with  some  detail,  how  the  first  news  of  the 
fate  of  the  battle  arrived. 

The  first  ran  as  follows  : — 

"Oct.  21. — At  ten  in  the  morning,  the  Combined 
Squadron  formed  in  line,  standing  on  a  course  to 
the  Straits,  in  sight  of  the  English ;  the  latter 
endeavoured  to  cut  the  line,  and  effected  it,  which 
threw  it  into  confusion  :  a  cannonade  commenced, 
which  lasted  from  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  till 
evening;  and  in  the  morning  of  the  22d,  there 
anchored  between  Rota  and  the  Castle  of  St. 
Catharine,  the  Principe  de  Asturias,  with  the  loss 
of  her  top-gallant ;  the  Leandro,  with  only  her 
foremast  standing ;  the  Rayo  and  two  others ;  as 
also  seven  French  ships,  with  four  frigates  and  two 
brigs :  of  all  the  rest  of  the  squadron  nothing  is 
POSITIVELY  known,  but  from  the  obscurity  of  the 
horizon,  with  continual  rain  and  bad  weather  from 
the  Southward,  those  which  are  missing  and  dis- 
masted are  not  alone  in  danger,  but  also  those 
which  have  anchored,  if  the  weather  continues. 
The  wounded  are  not  yet  landed  on  account  of  the 
bad  weather.  Admiral  Gravina  remains  on  board 
with  a  wound  in  his  arm :  Admiral  Escano  has  a 
wound  in  his  leg,  which  is  considered  dangerous ; 


''WE  SAW  A   SHIP   BLOW   UP"  327 

the  ship  which  blew  up  was  L'Achille  (French) ; 
it  is  said  her  commander  is  a  prisoner ;  the  Trini- 
dad was  dismasted,  and  the  St.  Anne  taken. — 
Nelson  gained  his  end  at  the  expence  of  rendering 
useless  his  own  ship  and  two  others.  The  action, 
it  is  said,  was  renewed  on  the  22d  in  the  morning, 
after  such  a  manner,  that  it  is  believed  many  of 
the  English  ships  are  reduced  to  mere  hulks.  The 
misfortune  is,  that  we  have  not  enough  of  small 
ships  able  to  give  assistance.  As  soon  as  the 
weather  clears  up,  and  we  know  exactly  what  has 
happened,  I  will  inform  you." 

The  second  added  certain  other  particulars : — 
"  Oct.  23. — The  Combined  Squadron  began  to 
get  under  sail  on  the  19th  instant,  with  a  wind 
at  N.N.E.  At  ten  a.m.  it  changed  to  w.  and  not 
being  able  to  make  any  way,  those  which  got  out 
remained  in  sight.  On  the  20th  at  daybreak,  the 
wind  got  to  the  Southward,  which  enabled  the 
whole  squadron  to  get  out,  so  that  at  ten  o'clock 
they  were  all  united.  The  wind  was  fresh,  the 
horizon  dark  and  close,  with  rain,  so  that  they 
were  soon  lost  sight  of.  In  the  afternoon  it  was 
calm ;  they  stood  on  towards  the  Southward,  and 
on  Monday  the  21st  shaped  their  course  for  the 
Straits.  At  two  p.m.  they  commenced  a  severe 
action  with  the  English  at  the  distance  of  five  or 
six  leagues  from  this  port,  which  lasted  till  Vespers. 
We  saw  a  ship  blow  up,  but  we  are  yet  ignorant 
what  she  was.     This  morning  there  anchored  at 


328  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

the  mouth  of  this  harbour  the  first  Squadron  of 
Observation,  with  some  French  frigates  and  brigs. 
The  result,  it  appears,  is  not  favourable.  There 
are  various  reports.   They  are  landing  the  wounded. 

"It  is  said  that  Gravina  has  lost  an  arm,  and 
Admiral  Escano  a  leg.  New  rigging  is  getting  on 
board,  and,  according  to  appearances,  they  are 
going  to  sail  again  in  quest  of  the  missing  ships. 
The  weather  is  rainy  and  gloomy,  with  the  wind 
at  south,  all  contrary  to  those  unfortunates,  who 
are  at  sea  still.  May  God  have  pity  on  them!  My 
Friend,  an  unlucky  sailing,  but  a  worse  lot !  a  bad 
result,  and  a  sad  painful  day  for  Cadiz  I " 

This  is  what  a  letter  from  Cadiz,  written  on  the 
25th  of  October,  says : — 

"There  is  no  doubt,  that  Nelson  and  his  English- 
men have  gained  a  complete  and  decisive  victory, 
and  that  our  Fleet  has  been,  all  of  it,  absolutely 
destroyed.  The  number  of  killed  and  wounded  is 
from  10  to  12,000.  Villeneuve  taken  prisoner, 
Magon  killed,  Gravina  severely  wounded  in  the 
arm,  Escano  in  the  leg,  and  Alava  in  the  head: 
Cisneros  and  Dumanoir  are  by  some  reported  to 
have  been  made  prisoners,  by  others  to  have  been 
killed.  Out  of  the  thirty-three  Ships  which  left 
this  Port,  only  nine  or  ten  have  re-entered  it,  and 
that  in  so  miserable  and  shattered  condition,  that 
the  hulls  of  some  are  almost  unserviceable.  The 
rest  of  the  Fleet  have  been  either  taken,  burnt,  or 
sunk.      In  the   offing  some  are   seen  dismasted, 


A  DESPATCH  TO  THE  FRENCH   AMBASSADOR     329 

which  the  English  have  manned  and  are  towing 
away.  Two  or  three  have  run  ashore  on  the  coast, 
without  the  possibiUty  of  receiving  any  assistance, 
in  consequence  of  the  furious  tempest  which  raged 
immediately  after  the  battle.  In  the  Playa  the 
sea  is  continually  throwing  up  portions  of  wreck, 
together  with  numbers  of  dead  bodies,  all  of  which 
increases  the  desolate  aspect  of  that  shore." 

Another  letter,  written  on  the  29th,  speaks  of 
the  pitiable  plight  of  the  hapless  remnant  of 
French  soldiers  landed  from  the  ships  that  escaped: 
"Scarcely  a  third  part  remains  of  the  French 
troops  who  were  embarked  on  board  the  Fleet, 
and  it  is  really  heart-rending  to  see  their  soldiers 
wandering  about  the  streets." 

According  to  Admiral  Rosily's  first  letter,  sent 
off  to  Beumonville,  the  French  Ambassador  at 
Madrid,  on  the  26th,  the  day  after  he  arrived  at 
Cadiz,  this  was  what  was  then  known,  or  believed, 
there,  of  the  losses  on  either  side :  "  Two  ships, 
understood  to  be  Enghsh,  have  been  wrecked  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Guadalquivir,  and  one  has  been 
burned.  The  Colossus  has  been  blown  up  (Le 
Colossus  a  saute  en  I'air).  A  good  deal  of  wreckage 
from  other  English  ships  has  been  found  along 
the  coast.  Nelson  has  been  killed.  Twenty-three 
ships  on  both  sides  have  been  dismasted.  On  the 
French  side  Admiral  Villeneuve  has  yielded  himself 
a  prisoner.  His  ship,  however,  has  re-entered 
Cadiz  harbour  under  the  French  flag,  after  which 


330  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

she  sank.  The  Fougueux  has  been  wrecked  on  the 
coast,  and  another  French  ship  blown  up.  Admiral 
Magon  and  Captains  Gourrege  and  Poulain  have 
been  killed.  Gravina  and  Escano  are  badly 
wounded.  It  is  impossible  to  get  full  accounts  or 
reports  of  losses  owing  to  the  storm,  and  also  as 
nothing  has  as  yet  been  received  from  some  of  the 
captains." 

###### 

The  news  of  the  disaster  reached  Corunna  and 
Ferrol  on  the  evening  of  the  5th  of  November. 
It  came  with  a  stunning  shock  on  everybody. 
Seven  of  the  fifteen  Spanish  ships  in  the  battle  had 
been  manned  at  Corunna  and  Ferrol :  the  flagship 
"  Principe  de  Asturias,"  the  "  San  Juan  Nepomu- 
ceno,"  the  "Monarca"  the  "Montanez,"  and  the 
"  San  Agustin,"  "  San  Francisco  de  Asis,"  and  the 
"San  Ildefonso."  Only  the  "Principe"  and 
"Montanez"  remained  under  the  flag  of  Spain, 
and  both  were  lying  in  a  pitiable  state,  disabled 
fugitives,  in  Cadiz  harbour.  The  others  had  either 
been  captured  or  wrecked,  with  what  loss  of  life 
they  dared  hardly  contemplate.  Above  all,  Chur- 
ruca  was  gone,  the  idol  of  the  sailors  of  northern 
Spain,  their  own  commodore,  who,  as  senior  officer 
at  Ferrol,  had  fitted  the  ships  out  to  join  Gravina. 
Of  the  French  Fleet,  too,  five  of  the  ships  and 
their  officers  were  well  known  at  Ferrol,  where 
for  the  past  two  years  they  had  been  lying;  the 


HOW  THEY  LEARNT  THE  NEWS  AT  CORUNNA    331 

"  Argonaute "  and  the  "  Redoutable "  and  the 
"  Heros,"  the  "  Fougueux  "  and  the  "  Duguay 
Trouin."  Of  these,  three  had  been  taken,  one 
only  was  at  Cadiz,  one  had  gone  off  with  Admiral 
Dumanoir,  it  was  beheved. 

This  is  what  a  neutral  skipper  (a  Swede)  told 
the  captain  of  the  "  Bellona,"  who  fell  in  with  the 
Swedish  merchantman  off  Cape  Finisterre  at  ten 
at  night  on  the  8th  of  November,  as  reported  to 
CornwaUis  off  Brest:  "He  sailed  from  Corunna 
on  Wednesday,  the  6th  instant,  a.m.,  and  at 
6  o'clock  the  evening  preceding,  the  post  had 
arrived  at  Cadiz  with  such  information  that  caused 
a  general  consternation,  alarm,  bustle,  and  despon- 
dency in  aU  ranks  of  people  that  it  was  impossible 
for  him  to  describe,  occasioned  by  the  account 
brought  by  the  post  of  an  action  fought  between 
[sic~\  the  Combined  Fleets  of  France  and  Spain, 
which,  he  said,  to  the  best  of  his  recollection,  for  he 
saw  the  account  and  read  it,  had  sailed  from  Cadiz 
on  the  22nd  or  23rd  ulto.,  and  he  thought  the 
action,  to  the  best  of  his  recollection,  for  all  was 
hurry  and  agitation,  was  fought  about  the  28th. 
But  so  great  was  the  confusion  and  dismay  that  he 
could  not  charge  his  memory  with  the  exact  dates, 
or  get  any  minute  information  except  what  he 
here  related.  .  .  .  He  said  the  account  stated  it  to 
have  been  the  most  obstinate  and  determined 
battle  ever  fought,  and  that,  except  the  Hst  of  a 
very  few  of  their  ships  which  had  arrived,  which 


332  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

list  he  read,  that  it  was  feared  by  the  Spaniards 
that  all  the  rest  were  either  taken  or  destroyed. 
He  saw  a  list  of  22  sail  of  the  line  which  were 
missing.  He  stated  that  the  Santisima  Trinidad 
had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  English  and  that 
one  French  74  had  blown  up  in  the  action ; 
this  was  seen  to  have  taken  place  by  the  ships 
which  had  returned.  Admiral  Gravina  had  lost 
his  arm,  and  the  captain  of  his  ship  had  lost  his 
leg,  both  of  whom  had  arrived  at  Cadiz."  ^ 

We  have  this  about  the  state  of  things  on 
shore,  in  the  vicinity  of  Cadiz  and  Trafalgar  Bay 
during  the  week  or  ten  days  that  succeeded  the 
battle.  The  coast  for  some  miles  up  and  down 
was  watched  by  patrols  on  horseback,  distributed 
along  the  beach,  with  burying  parties  posted  at 
intervals  here  and  there.  On  the  mounted  men 
discovering  bodies  washed  ashore,  they  signalled  to 
the  men  on  foot,  who  came  down  and  dug  holes 
in  the  sand  into  which  they  dragged  the  dead. 

In  Cadiz  itself,  for  ten  days  after  the  battle, 
they  were  busy  bringing  the  wounded  ashore,  and 
horrible  and  sad  scenes  were  to  be  witnessed  at 
the  wharves,  and  in  the  streets  the  litters  of 
wounded,  some  of  the  poor  fellows  crying  out  as 
they  were  carried  along.  Most  of  the  Spanish 
gentlefolk  assisted  to  the  utmost  by  their  personal 
exertions.     The  hospitals  were  filled,  and  several 

»  Navy  Records  Society:  "Blockade  of  Brest/'  II,  pp.  367-8. 


AN   ENGLISH    VISITOR'S    IMPRESSIONS         333 

churches  and  convents  had  to  be  appropriated. 
Everywhere  about  the  city  were  to  be  met  women 
in  tears,  while  many  of  the  sailors  who  had 
escaped  spent  their  time  wandering  to  and  fro, 
aimlessly,  apparently  not  knowing  where  to  go. 

The  churches  were  filled  with  the  anxious 
relatives  of  officers  and  men  who  were  missing, 
unaware,  as  yet,  of  what  fate  had  actually  befallen 
those  whose  ships  had  not  come  back.  Masses, 
for  the  repose  of  the  souls  of  the  fallen,  were 
being  chanted,  meanwhile,  day  after  day,  for  those 
who  were  known  to  have  been  killed,  in  anticipa- 
tion of  the  solemn  official  funeral  service,  to  be 
held  later,  when  fuller  returns  had  come  in.  That 
took  place  on  the  21st  of  November,  at  the  Church 
of  the  Convent  of  the  Carmen  (the  principal 
church  of  Cadiz  during  the  rebuilding  of  the 
cathedral),  at  the  expense  of  Admirals  Gravina, 
Alava,  and  Cisneros,  conjointly  with  Admiral 
Rosily  and  the  Governor-General,  the  Marquis 
de  la  Solano,  who,  with  his  staff  and  suite,  and  as 
many  naval  and  military  officers  as  could  be 
present,  attended  in  full  state. 

An  Englishman,  a  merchant,  who  happened  to 
arrive  at  Cadiz  shortly  after  the  battle,  recorded 
in  a  letter  some  of  the  things  that  he  saw. 

"Ten  days  after  the  battle,  they  were  still 
employed  bringing  ashore  the  wounded;  and 
spectacles  were  hourly  displayed  at  the  wharfs, 
and  through  the  streets,  sufficient  to  shock  every 


334  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

heart  not  yet  hardened  to  scenes  of  blood  and 
human  suffering.     When,  by  the  carelessness  of 
the  boatmen,  and  the  surging  of  the  sea,  the  boats 
struck  against  the  stone  piers,  a  horrid  cry,  which 
pierced  the  soul,  arose  from  the  mangled  wretches 
on  board.    Many  of  the  Spanish  gentry  assisted  in 
bringing  them   ashore,  with   symptoms  of  much 
compassion,  yet  as  they  were  finely  dressed,  it  had 
something  of  the  appearance   of  ostentation ;    if 
there  could  be  ostentation  at  such  a  moment.     It 
need  not  be  doubted  that  an  Englishman  lent  a 
willing  hand  to  bear  them  up  the  steps  to  their 
litters,   yet  the   slightest  false    step  made  them 
shriek  out,  and  I  even  yet  shudder  at  the  re- 
membrance of  the  sound.     On  the  top  of  the  pier 
the  scene  was  affecting.   The  wounded  were  carried 
away  to  the  hospitals  in  every  shape  of  human 
misery,  whilst  crowds  of  Spaniards  either  assisted 
or  looked  on  with  signs  of  horror.     Meanwhile, 
their  companions,  who  had  escaped  unhurt,  walked 
up  and  down  with  folded  arms  and  downcast  eyes, 
whilst  women   sat  upon   heaps  of  arms,  broken 
furniture,   and    baggage,   with   their    heads    bent 
between    their    knees.     I   had   no  inclination    to 
follow  the  litters  of  the  wounded,  yet  I  learned 
that  every  hospital  in  Cadiz  was  already  full,  and 
that  convents  and  churches  were  forced  to  be  ap- 
propriated to  the  reception  of  the  remainder.     If, 
leaving  the  harbour,  I  passed  through  the  town 
to  the  Point,  I  still  beheld  the  terrible  effects  of 


LOOKING   SEAWARD   FROM   THE   BEACH      335 

the  battle.  As  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  the 
sandy  side  of  the  isthmus  bordering  on  the 
Atlantic  was  covered  with  masts  and  yards,  the 
wrecks  of  ships,  and  here  and  there  the  bodies  of 
the  dead.  Among  others  I  noticed  a  topmast 
marked  with  the  name  of  the  Swiftsure,  and  the 
broad  arrow  of  England,  which  only  increased  my 
anxiety  to  know  how  far  the  English  had  suffered, 
the  Spaniards  still  continuing  to  affirm  that  they 
(the  English)  had  lost  their  chief  admiral,  and  half 
their  fleet.  While  surrounded  by  these  wrecks,  I 
mounted  on  the  cross-trees  of  a  mast  which  had 
been  thrown  ashore,  and  casting  my  eyes  over  the 
ocean,  beheld,  at  a  great  distance,  several  masts 
and  portions  of  wreck  floating  about.  As  the  sea 
was  now  almost  calm,  with  a  light  swell,  the  effect 
produced  by  these  objects  had  in  it  something  of 
a  sublime  melancholy,  and  touched  the  soul  with 
a  remembrance  of  the  sad  vicissitudes  of  human 
affairs.  The  portions  of  floating  wreck  were 
visible  from  the  ramparts,  yet  not  a  boat  dared 
to  venture  out  to  examine  or  endeavour  to  tow 
them  in,  such  were  the  apprehensions  which  still 
filled  their  minds  of  the  enemy." 

To  this  day  at  Conil,  a  Uttle  township,  the 
nearest  inhabited  place  to  Cape  Trafalgar,  from 
which  it  is  distant  about  seven  English  miles,  the 
older  folks  will  repeat  to  the  visitor  what  their 
grandfathers  told  them  about  the  finding  of  the 
bodies   along  the   coast  and  wreckage  as  it  was 


55    J2 


3  s. 


THE  DEAD  DRIFTED  UP  WITH  EVERY  TIDE     337 


TORRE   DE  CASTILOBO 


Whence  the  Spanish  coast-signalmen  watched  the  progress 
of  the  battle  from  hour  to  hour 


washed  in.  A 
rough  and  stony 
bridle-path 
across  an  arid 
stretch  of  coun- 
try is  all  that 
there  is  —  and 
was  in  1805 — 
between  Conil 
and  the  head- 
land, whence, 
as  the  wayfarer 
arrives,  he  looks 
down  over  a 
ten- mile  sweep 
of  open  sandy 
beach  fringing 
the  wide  curve 
of  coast-line  be- 


tween Trafalgar 
and  Cape  Roque  to  northward,  in  the  direction 
of  Cadiz.  There  the  dead  lay  thickly,  drifting  up 
for  days  after  the  storm  with  every  tide,  inter- 


SS8  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

mingled  with  broken  fragments  of  ships  and  gear. 
The  old  watch-tower  of  Castilobo — dating  from 
Moorish  times — whence  look-out  men  gazed  on 
the  fight  on  the  horizon  all  that  Monday  afternoon, 
still  stands,  more  or  less  in  a  dilapidated  state 
nowadays.  Not  far  off  are  the  remains  of  a  later 
tower,  called  locally  Torre  Nueva,  also  used  at  the 
time  of  Trafalgar  as  a  look-out  post,  with  barracks 
of  the  carabineers  in  rear.  At  the  point  there 
used  to  stand  another  tower  whence  at  night  a 
fire  beacon  blazed ;  but  that  was  pulled  down  to 
make  way  for  the  comparatively  modem  light- 
house that  now  marks  Cape  Trafalgar. 

Nothing  could  be  more  kindly  and  humane  than 
the  demeanour  of  the  Spaniards  to  those  officers 
and  men  from  the  British  Fleet  whom  the  storm 
threw  into  their  hands  in  recaptured  prizes,  or  who 
escaped  to  shore  with  their  lives  from  wrecked 
ships. 

Two  instances  may  be  cited  as  typical  of  the 
rest.  One  is  recorded  by  Captain  Codrington  of 
the  British  "  Orion,"  with  regard  to  the  experiences 
of  the  master  of  his  ship,  who  was  taken  ashore 
from  the  wreck  of  the  "  Rayo."  He  had  been  sent 
on  board  the  prize  before  she  broke  adrift. 

"The  poor  Spaniards  behaved  very  creditably 
indeed  :  they  not  only  sent  boats  for  them  (English 
and  all)  as  soon  as  the  weather  moderated,  with 
bread  and  water  for  their   immediate  relief;  but 


KINDNESS   OF  THE   COUNTRY   PEOPLE        839 

when  the  boat,  in  which  the  Master  of  the  ship 
was  sent,  had  got  into  Cadiz  harbour  a  carriage 
was  backed  into  the  water  for  him  to  step  into 
from  the  boat,  all  sorts  of  cordials  and  confec- 
tionery were  placed  in  the  carriage  for  him,  and 
clean  linen,  bed,  etc.  prepared  for  him  at  a  lodging 
on  shore :  added  to  which  the  women  and  priests 
presented  him  with  delicacies  of  all  sorts  as  the 
carriage  passed  along  the  streets.  In  short,  he 
says,  and  with  very  great  truth,  that  had  he  been 
wrecked  on  any  part  of  the  English  coast  he  would 
never  have  received  half  the  attention  which  he 
did  from  these  poor  Spaniards,  whose  friends  we 
had  just  destroyed  in  such  numbers." 

The  second  narrative  is  from  a  seaman  of  the 
"  Spartiate,"  who  was  sent,  he  says,  as  one  of  the 
prize  crew  on  board  another  Spanish  ship  which 
drove  ashore  near  Cadiz. 

"We  sent  the  prisoners  ashore  first,  and  then 
followed  ourselves  afterwards,  and  by  four  o'clock 
the  next  morning  we  all  got  safe  on  shore. 

"  Now  the  Spanish  prisoners,  that  had  come  on 
shore  first,  some  of  them  had  been  and  seen  their 
friends,  and,  as  dayUght  came  on,  they  came  down 
to  assist  us,  which  they  did,  for  they  brought  us 
some  bread,  and  some  figs,  and  some  wine,  to 
refresh  us,  which  we  wanted  very  much,  for  we 
had  scarcely  tasted  anything  the  last  twenty-four 
hours,  and  the  Spaniards  behaved  very  kind  to  us. 
As  for  myself,  after  I  had  eaten  some  bread  and 


340  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

fruit,  and  drank  some  wine,  I  tried  to  get  up,  but 
I  could  not,  and  one  of  the  Spaniards,  seeing  the 
state  I  was  in,  was  kind  enough  to  get  two  or  three 
more  of  his  companions,  and  hfted  me  up  in  one 
of  the  bullock-carts  in  which  they  had  brought 
down  the  provisions  for  us,  and  covered  me  up 
with  one  of  their  great  ponchos,  and  he  tapped  me 
on  the  shoulder,  and  said,  '  Bono  English  ! '  And, 
being  upon  the  cart,  I  was  out  of  the  wind  and 
rain — for  it  blew  a  heavy  gale  of  wind — and  I  felt 
myself  quite  comfortable,  only  my  leg  pained  me 
a  good  deal;  but,  thanks  be  to  God,  I  soon  fell 
into  a  sound  sleep,  and,  as  I  heard  afterwards,  the 
French  soldiers  came  down  and  marched  the  rest 
of  my  shipmates  up  to  Cadiz,  and  they  put  them 
into  the  Spanish  prison.  As  for  my  part,  I  was 
taken  up  to  Cadiz,  in  the  bullock-cart,  and  my 
kind  friend  took  me  to  his  own  house,  and  had 
me  put  to  bed,  where  I  found  myself  when  I 
woke." 

Officially  also,  an  interchange  of  courtesies  be- 
tween the  British  Fleet  and  the  Spanish  authorities 
at  Cadiz  was  taking  place,  the  outcome  of  a  tact- 
ful and  courteously  worded  message  sent  by 
CoUingwood  to  the  Governor  of  the  city.^     Said 

1  CoUingwood  opened  the  negotiations  within  a  week  of  the  battle 
by  sending  in  Captain  Blackwood  with  a  flag  of  truce  to  the  Governor. 
He  was  received  in  the  most  friendly  way  and  dined  and  slept  at  the 
Governor's.  So  amicable  did  relations  become  that  immediately  after- 
wards the  Marquis  de  la  Solana  sent  out  to  CoUingwood  a  cask  of  wine^ 


COLLINGWOOD  AND  THE  GOVERNOR  OF  CADIZ  341 

Collingwood  himself,  writing  home  ten  days  after 
Trafalgar,  of  the  arrangement,  and  of  the  kind- 
ness and  generosity  displayed  by  all  at  Cadiz 
to  the  British  officers  and  men  shipwrecked  in 
the  prizes : — 

"  To  alleviate  the  miseries  of  the  wounded  as 
much  as  in  my  power,  I  sent  a  flag  to  the  Marquis 
Solana,  to  offer  him  his  wounded.  Nothing  can 
exceed  the  gratitude  expressed  by  him  for  this  act 
of  humanity ;  all  this  part  of  Spain  is  in  an  uproar 
of  praise  and  thankfulness  to  the  English.  Solana 
sent  me  a  present  of  a  cask  of  wine,  and  we  have 
a  free  intercourse  with  the  shore.  Judge  of  the 
footing  we  are  on,  when  I  tell  you  he  offered  me 
his  hospitals,  and  pledged  the  Spanish  honour  for 
the  care  and  cure  of  our  wounded  men.  Our 
officers  and  men  who  were  wrecked  in  some  prize 
ships  were  most  kindly  treated :  all  the  country 
was  on  the  beach  to  receive  them,  the  priests  and 
women  distributing  wine,  and  bread,  and  fruit, 
amongst  them.  The  soldiers  turned  out  of  their 
barracks  to  make  lodging  for  them." 

and  followed  it  up  with  a  large  supply  of  fruit — melons,  grapes,  figs, 
and  pomegranates,  adding  that  he  would  send  more  in  a  day  or  two, 
and  any  other  fruit  that  might  be  fancied.  Collingwood,  on  his  part, 
returned  the  courtesy  with  the  best  he  had  at  disposal,  a  cheddar  cheese 
and  a  cask  of  porter.  Later,  when  the  first  report  of  Admiral  Gravina's 
death  reached  Gibraltar,  Collingwood  wrote  off  to  Cadiz  a  most  kindly 
and  sympathetic  letter,  which,  for  its  eulogy  of  the  dead  oflUcer,  was 
received  with  the  highest  appreciation. 


CHAPTER    XXVI 

HOW  THE  NEWS  REACHED  ENGLAND— 
AND  NAPOLEON 

rpHE  battle  was  fought  on  Monday,  the  21st  of 
-L  October.  The  first  authentic  news  of  it,  and 
of  Nelson's  death,  only  reached  London  on  Wed- 
nesday, the  6th  of  November,  at  one  in  the 
morning. 

A  rumour,  based  on  a  newspaper  paragraph, 
that  there  had  been  fighting  at  Cadiz,  had  been 
current  in  London  for  three  or  four  days  previously, 
but  nothing  was  known  as  to  what  had  taken 
place.  In  the  "Morning  Post"  of  the  2nd  of 
November  an  editorial  note  stated  that  it  was 
reported,  on  the  authority  of  letters  said  to 
have  been  received  from  Lisbon,  that  "Lord 
Nelson  had  succeeded  in  destroying  a  great  part  of 
the  Combined  Fleet  in  the  harbour  of  Cadiz  ";  but 
the  Editor  felt  it  his  duty  to  add  this :  "  Though 
firom  the  enterprising  character  of  the  noble 
Admiral  we  cannot  consider  this  rumour  as  im- 
probable, we  cannot  at  present  attach  any  credit 
to  it,  from  the  circumstances  of  no  advice  whatever 


THE   REAL   ANXIETY   OF   THE   HOUR         343 

upon    the   subject  having  been  received   at  the 
Admiralty." 

As  a  fact,  the  ship  bringing  the  news  of  Trafal- 
gar was  not  yet  in  the  Channel.  England,  and 
indeed  all  Europe,  was  thinking  of  something  else. 

The  startling,  and  totally  unexpected,  news  had 
just  reached  London  of  the  complete  overthrow  of 
the  first  great  army  of  the  European  coalition 
against  Napoleon.  The  fate  of  the  Continent  was 
in  the  camp  of  General  Mack  at  Ulm,  it  had 
been  said :  Mack  himself  was  a  scientific  strategist 
of  world-wide  reputation;  his  troops  were  the 
pick  of  the  Austrian  army — the  best  appointed 
and  disciplined  soldiers  of  the  time.  Five  days 
before  the  "Morning  Post"  published  its  rumour 
about  Nelson  at  Cadiz,  an  empty  boat  had  been 
towed  out  by  a  French  pinnace  from  Boulogne 
and  ostentatiously  abandoned  in  full  view  of  the 
English  frigates  cruising  off  the  harbour.  It  was 
picked  up,  and  in  the  boat  was  found  a  packet 
addressed:  "To  the  Commodore  of  the  English 
Squadron."  Inside  was  a  letter,  on  the  cover  of 
which  was  scrawled  :  "  Commodore  Robin  has  the 
pleasure  of  communicating  this  good  news  to  the 
Commodore  of  the  EngUsh  Squadron."  The 
single  sheet  enclosed  bore  on  one  side  this,  written 
in  large  characters :  "  L'Armee  Autrichienne,  forte 
de  cent  mille  hommes,  est  detruite.  Le  Gen.  en 
Chef  Mack  lui-meme  est  fait  prisonnier  a  Ulm,  et  le 


344  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

Prince  Ferdinand  est  en  fuite."  On  the  other  side 
was  a  translation :  "  The  Army  of  the  Austrians, 
strong  of  one  hundred  thousand,  is  no  more.  The 
General  in  Chief  Mack  is  himself  a  prisoner  in 
Ulm,  and  Prince  Ferdinand  is  put  to  flight." 
Following  on  that,  two  days  before  the  "  Morning 
Post's  "  Cadiz  rumour,  copies  of  the  "  Gazette  de 
Paris"  reached  London  (via  Hamburg),  stating 
positively  that  accounts  had  been  received  "  of  the 
total  defeat  of  the  Austrian  army,  the  capitulation 
of  the  garrison  of  Ulm,  and  the  surrender  of 
Forty  Thousand  of  the  Austrian  troops,  who  were 
made  Prisoners  of  War."  It  seemed  incredible. 
"Until  further  accounts  arrive  from  Paris,"  said 
the  "  Times,"  "  we  shall  not  despair.  Our  anxiety 
is  excessive,  but  we  are  sustained."  The  leader 
writer  had  hardly  laid  down  his  pen  when  letters 
came  in  that  left  no  shadow  of  doubt  as  to 
the  awful  magnitude  of  the  disaster.  The  horror- 
stricken  Editor  announced  it,  as  he  said, — "with 
the  deepest  anguish."  "General  Mack  with  the 
whole  of  the  Austrian  staff  are  prisoners  of  war. 
.  .  .  The  whole  of  the  Austrian  Army  is  repre- 
sented as  being  nearly  destroyed :  not  a  vestige 
of  what  might  be  termed  an  efficient  corps  re- 
mained. Those  who  escaped  the  sword  or  the 
chains  of  the  enemy,  all  who  were  not  among 
the  number  of  the  killed,  wounded,  or  prisoners, 
were  broken  into  puny  detachments,  and  scattered 


STORMY   WEATHER   ON   THE   SOUTH   COAST     345 

into  various  directions.  Such  is  the  state  into 
which  the  accounts  from  Holland  represent  the 
Austrian  army  of  between  seventy  and  eighty 
thousand  men  to  have  fallen." 

That  was  what  was  uppermost  in  the  minds  of 
everybody  in  England  during  the  first  five  days  of 
November,  1805  :  consternation  at  the  unexpected 
blow  that,  at  the  outset,  had  fallen  on  Pitt's  elabor- 
ately engineered  European  coalition.  Was  Eng- 
land again  to  see  the  bayonets  of  Napoleon's 
legionaries  at  Boulogne,  vengeful  and  flushed  with 
the  incitement  of  unparalleled  conquests,  while 
Europe  behind  them  looked  on  idly,  tamed  and 
prostrate  ? 

Meanwhile,  the  wives  and  relatives  of  those  in 
Nelson's  fleet  off  Cadiz  had,  in  addition,  their  own 
personal  anxieties  of  another  kind.  The  fierce 
Atlantic  storm  that  wrecked  so  many  of  Nelson's 
prizes  in  the  week  after  the  battle,  raged  far  and 
wide  along  the  seaboard  of  western  Europe,  and 
reached  as  far  north  even  as  our  own  shores ; 
causing  not  a  little  uneasiness  among  the  wives 
and  friends  of  those  in  the  fleets  at  sea,  as  private 
letters  exist  to  testify.  It  was  so,  we  know,  with 
those  living  along  the  south  coast  to  westward 
of  the  Isle  of  Wight.  To  this  hour  the  wide- 
spread havoc  of  the  Trafalgar  week's  storm  is  a 
tradition  among  the  cottagers  of  the  Dorset  shore. 


346  THE  ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

stamped  in  local  memory  by  the  coincidences  of 
the  event. 

In  the  wild  October  night-time,  when  the  wind  raved 

round  the  land. 
And  the  Back-Sea  met  the  Front-Sea,  and  our  doors 

were  blocked  with  sand. 
And  we  heard  the  drub  of  Dead-man's  Bay,  where  the 

bones  of  thousands  are, 
We   knew   not  what  the   day   had   done   for   us   at 

Trafalgar. 

One  can  fancy  the  Hardy  ladies,  the  sisters  of 
Nelson's  flag-captain,  in  their  little  home  at  Portis- 
ham,  within  sight  and  hearing  of  the  Channel 
waves,  Ustening  with  anxious  hearts  to  the  howling 
gusts  and  the  dull,  incessant  roaring  of  the  sea  that 
came  up  across  Blackdown  from  the  direction  of 
Chesil  Beach. 

CoUingwood  sent  off  his  first  Trafalgar  despatch 
on  Sunday,  the  27th  of  October;  on  the  very 
day  that  the  empty  boat  with  the  news  of  the 
catastrophe  at  Ulm  was  picked  up  off  Boulogne. 
Six  days  had  gone  by  since  the  battle,  but  it 
was  the  first  opportunity  he  had  had  of  getting 
the  despatch  off.  At  half-past  twelve  that  day 
the  "  Pickle,"  an  8-gun  schooner.  Lieutenant 
Lapenoti^re  in  command,  left  the  fleet  for  Eng- 
land with  ColUngwood's  public  letter.^   The  voyage 

^  Colling  wood's  selection  of  so  junior  an  officer  as  a  lieutenant  to 
carry  the  Trafalgar  despatch  home,  has  been  criticized.  It  is  accounted 
for  by  the  family  in  this  way,  adopting  the  words  of  his  granddaughter. 
Miss  Lapenotiere  of   Clifton.     ^'Lieutenant  La  Penotiere  had  the 


BRINGING  THE   NEWS   TO   ENGLAND         347 

was  rough,  and  a  hard  beat  for  most  of  the  way, 
and  took  nme  days.  Off  Cape  Finisterre  they  had 
to  heave  four  of  their  guns  overboard,  and  through- 
out the  day  on  the  1st  of  November  all  hands 
were  at  the  pumps  and  baling  water  out.  To  the 
south-west  of  the  Scilly  Isles,  on  the  2nd,  they  ran 
into  a  streak  of  dead  calm,  and  had  to  use  sweeps 
to  keep  the  "  Pickle's  "  head  in  the  right  direction. 
Then  bad  weather  and  squalls  came  on  again.  So 
the  news  of  Trafalgar  was  brought  to  England. 
Two  vessels  were  spoken  on  the  voyage ;  the 
"Nautilus  "  ("  NotUs  "  the  "  Pickle's"  log  spells  the 
name),  off  the  Tagus,  and  the  "  Superb,"  Captain 
Keats,  to  southward  of  the  Land's  End.  The 
"  Nautilus  "  ran  into  Lisbon  with  the  news.  Keats 
and  his  "Superbs"  —  "Nelsonians"  to  a  man — 
were  on  their  way  for  Cadiz,  hoping  against  hope 
to  be  in  time  for  the  expected  battle.   Deep  groans 

command  of  the  schooner  Pickle^  and  did  good  work  on  the  eve  of  the 
battle  of  Trafalgar,  taking  his  ship  in  among  the  enemy's  fleet  and 
reporting  their  number  and  position.  When  a  young  man  he  had 
been  a  passenger  on  board  a  ship  which  also  conveyed  Lord  Colling- 
wood.  An  order  was  given  on  deck  to  the  man  at  the  wheel, 
and  he  saw  that  if  obeyed  the  ship  would  be  on  the  rocks.  He 
instantly  gave  another  order  and  saved  the  ship.  Lord  CoUingwood 
thanked  him  and  said  :  '  If  ever  I  have  the  opportunity  I  will  do  you 
a  service.'  After  the  action  at  Trafalgar  he  sent  for  him  and  reminded 
him  of  his  promise,  adding  :  '  Now  take  these  despatches  to  England  ; 
you  will  receive  £500  and  your  commander's  commission.  Now  I  have 
kept  my  word.'"  The  La  Penotiere  family  came  to  England  at  the 
Revolution  of  1688,  with  "  Dutch  William/'  and  both  the  father  and 
grandfather  of  the  commander  of  the  "  Pickle  "  served  in  the  Royal 
Navy.  The  name  is  to  be  found  in  the  navy  lists  of  William  III  and 
Queen  Anne. 


348  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

throughout  the  ship,  we  are  told,  and  openly  shed 
tears  from  many,  greeted  Lieutenant  Lapenotiere's 
intelligence  of  Nelson's  death,  which  the  "Pickle's" 
commander  personally  delivered  to  Captain  Keats. 
Proceeding,  the  Lizard  hghts  were  sighted  ahead 
at  two  in  the  morning  on  the  4th.  The  Manacles 
were  on  the  beam  between  seven  and  eight.  At  a 
quarter  to  ten,  off  Pendennis  Castle,  the  "  Pickle  " 
shortened  sail  and  hove-to.  A  boat  was  at  once 
lowered,  and  Lieutenant  Lapenotiere  went  on 
shore  with  his  despatches,  to  post  off  at  once  for 
London. 

Beyond  the  bare  fact  of  the  victory  and  Nelson's 
death,  little  was  told  at  Falmouth.  Lapeno- 
tiere was  off  within  half  an  hour  of  landing ;  and 
as  soon  as  he  stepped  ashore  his  boat  pulled  back 
to  the  "Pickle,"  which  before  two  o'clock  was 
under  sail  for  Plymouth  Sound.  There  was  no 
semaphore  telegraph  in  1805  farther  west  than 
Portsmouth.  They  had  begun  setting  up  stations 
between  London  and  Plymouth,  but  the  line  was 
not  yet  in  working  order. 

Lieutenant  Lapenotiere  was  on  his  way  by  noon : 
taking  the  post  road  by  Truro,  Liskeard,  Tavi- 
stock, across  Dartmoor,  by  Post-bridge  to  Chag- 
ford  and  Exeter;  and  thence  along  the  coach 
road  by  Honiton,  Axminster,  Crewkerne,  Yeovil, 
Sherborne,  Salisbury,  Andover,  Basingstoke,  to 
London.  He  changed  horses  nineteen  times  along 
the  266  miles  of  his  route.    So  the  Trafalgar  des- 


ALL   IN   THE   ORDINARY   WAY  349 

patches  travelled  to  London ;  in  the  everyday  way. 
Nobody  guessed  that  the  ordinary-looking  post- 
chaise,  with  a  quiet-mannered  naval  lieutenant 
seated  inside,  was  bearing  the  most  momentous 
and  interesting  news  that  ever  reached  the  shores 


LIEUTENANT  J.    R.    LAPENOTIERE 

(From  a  silhouette  in  the  possession  of  his  granddaughter,  Miss  Lapenotiere) 

of  England.  The  roads  were  good  going — no 
rain  had  fallen  in  the  south  of  England  since 
the  30th  of  October — and  excellent  time  was 
kept.  The  post-chaise  drew  up  at  the  gates  of 
the  Admiralty  at  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the 
6th  of  November. 

As  it  did  so,  another  post-chaise  raced  up.     It 


350  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

conveyed  another  officer,  bearing  the  same  news. 
He  was  Captain  Sykes  of  the  "Nautilus,"  which 
the  "  Pickle  "  had  fallen  in  with  off  the  Tagus,  to 
whom  Lieutenant  Lapenotiere  had  imparted  his 
intelligence.  The  "Nautilus"  had  run  straight  into 
Lisbon,  and  had  been  thence  sent  off  to  England 
by  the  British  Ambassador.  Landing  at  Plymouth, 
Captain  Sykes  had  posted  to  London,  and  his  con- 
veyance arrived  at  the  Admiralty  as  Lieutenant 
Lapenotiere's  chaise  was  pulling  up. 

Of  the  dramatic  scene  that  followed,  and  how  the 
news  was  broken  to  the  First  Lord  in  his  bedroom, 
we  have  an  eye-witness's  account  from  no  less  a 
personage  than  Mr.  Marsden,  the  First  Secretary 
of  the  Board  of  Admiralty  himself. 

"  Admiral  Collingwood's  important  despatches," 
he  says,  "were  delivered  to  me  about  one  o'clock 
a.m.  of  the  6th  of  November,  when  I  was  in  the 
act  of  withdrawing  from  the  Board  Room  to  my 
private  apartments."  Mr.  Marsden  was  informed 
that  an  officer  had  just  arrived  with  important 
despatches,  and  the  officer  was  shown  in  at  once. 

One  can  imagine  the  scene.  A  large,  lofty 
room,  decorated  with  carved  friezework  and  tall 
Ionic  pilasters  at  the  sides,  the  curtains  drawn 
closely,  and  everything  very  still — the  dead  of 
night:  the  fire  burning  low  or  ffickering  fitfully 
out :  dim  shadows  in  the  background  on  either 
hand,  beyond  the  gleam  of  light  cast  by  the 
tall    wax    candles    on    the    long    table    in    the 


ANNOUNCING  TRAFALGAR  AT  THE  ADMIRALTY  351 

centre  of  the  room,  piled  with  tied-up  docu- 
ments. An  elderly  gentleman  in  deshabille, 
somewhat  of  the  prim  official  type,  the  sole  occu- 
pant of  the  room,  has  just  risen  wearily  from  his 
chair  at  the  table  and  turns  away  with  a  sigh  of 
relief  as  he  casts  round  his  last  glance  for  the  night 
at  the  bundles  of  returns  he  has  been  for  hours 
laboriously  perusing,  to  take  up  his  chamber 
candlestick  and  shuffle  off  at  last  to  bed.^  Suddenly 
there  is  a  sharp  knock.  The  door  opens  abruptly 
and  the  night  porter  announces  and  ushers  in 
a  naval  officer  in  uniform ;  travel-worn  and  show- 
ing traces  of  fatigue,  but  with  an  air  of  suppressed 
emotion  in  every  feature  of  his  countenance.  A 
moment's  pause,  and  then  the  officer,  without  word 
of  preface  or  personal  introduction,  in  a  very  grave 
tone  accosts  the  wondering  Secretary:  "Sir,  we 
have  gained  a  great  victory,  but  we  have  lost  Lord 
Nelson  I " 

"In  accosting  me,"  describes  the  Secretary  to 
the  Admiralty,  "the  officer  used  these  impressive 
words :  '  Sir,  we  have  gained  a  great  victory,  but  we 
have  lost  Lord  Nelson !'  The  effect  thus  produced 
it  is  not  to  my  purpose  to  describe ;  nor  had  I 
time  to  indulge  in  reflections,  who  was  at  that 
moment  the  only  person  informed  of  one  of  the 
greatest  events  recorded  in  our  history,  and  which 

1  Between  May,  1803,  and  the  end  of  1806  Mr.  Marsden,  as  he 
himself  has  placed  on  record,  never  for  one  single  night  was  able 
to  sleep  away  from  the  Admiralty. 


352  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

it  was  my  duty  to  make  known  with  the  utmost 
promptitude." 

The  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  Lord  Barham, 
had  to  be  informed  at  once,  and  Mr.  Marsden, 
leaving  Lapenotiere  by  himself,  set  out,  candle 
in  hand,  to  find  his  bedroom  in  the  big  building. 

"  The  First  Lord,"  he  says,  "  had  retired  to  rest, 
as  had  his  domestics,  and  it  was  not  until  after 
some  research  that  I  could  discover  the  room  in 
which  he  slept.  Drawing  aside  his  curtains  with  a 
candle  in  my  hand,  I  woke  the  old  peer  from 
a  sound  slumber,  and  to  the  credit  of  his  nerves 
be  it  mentioned  that  he  showed  no  symptom  of 
alarm  or  surprise,  but  calmly  asked,  '  What  news, 
Mr.  Marsden  ? '  We  then  discussed,  in  few  words, 
what  was  to  be  done,  and  I  sat  up  the  remainder 
of  the  night  with  such  of  the  clerks  as  I  could 
collect,  in  order  to  make  the  necessary  communica- 
tions, at  an  early  hour,  to  the  King,  Prince  of 
Wales,  Duke  of  York,  the  Ministers  and  other 
members  of  the  Cabinet,  and  to  the  Lord  Mayor, 
who  communicated  the  intelligence  to  the  shipping 
interest  at  Lloyd's  Coffee  House.  A  notice  for 
the  Royal  salute  was  also  necessary." 

"Never,"  says  Sir  John  Barrow,  the  Second 
Secretary,  who  learned  the  news  on  arriving  at  the 
Admiralty  next  morning,  "  can  I  forget  the  shock 
I  received  on  opening  the  Board  Room  door 
the  morning  after  the  arrival  of  the  despatches, 
when  Marsden  called  out :  *  Glorious  news  !     The 


KING   GEORGE   NAMES  THE   BATTLE  353 

most  glorious  victory  our  brave  navy  has  ever 
achieved — but  Nelson  is  dead  ! '  The  vivid  recol- 
lection of  my  interview  with  this  incomparable 
man,  and  the  idea  that  I  was  probably  the  last 
person  he  had  taken  leave  of  in  London,  left  an  im- 
pression of  gloom  on  my  mind  that  required  some 
time  to  remove." 

The  news  was  immediately  sent  off  to  Windsor 
Castle,  and  reached  there  at  seven  in  the  morning. 
"The  King  was  so  affected  by  it  that  some  minutes 
elapsed  before  he  could  give  utterance  to  his  feel- 
ings. The  Queen  called  the  Princesses  around  her 
to  read  the  despatches,  while  the  whole  royal  group 
shed  tears  to  the  memory  of  Lord  Nelson." 

In  his  reply  to  Mr.  Marsden,  on  behalf  of  His 
Majesty,  Colonel  Taylor,  the  King's  private  secre- 
tary, wrote  as  follows:  "However  His  Majesty 
rejoices  at  the  signal  success  of  his  gallant  fleet,  he 
has  not  heard  without  expressions  of  very  deep 
regret  of  the  death  of  its  valuable  and  distinguished 
Commander,  although  a  life  so  replete  with  glory, 
and  marked  by  a  rapid  succession  of  such  meri- 
torious services  and  exertions,  could  not  have  ended 
more  gloriously." 

Colonel  Taylor  added  this  on  his  own  account : 
"  1  have  not  upon  any  occasion  seen  His  Majesty 
more  affected."  The  Private  Secretary,  in  a  post- 
script, made  the  following  announcement:  "The 
King  is  of  opinion  that  the  battle  should  be  styled 
that  of  Trafalgar." 

2    A 


S54  THE  ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

The  "  London  Gazette  Extraordinary  "  was  out 
before  breakfast  time,  and  the  newspapers  and 
the  Park  and  Tower  guns,  and  the  church  bells, 
announced  the  news  to  all  London  before  nine 
o'clock.  Its  effect  was  stunning.  Never  was  a 
great  triumph  received  with  so  little  manifesta- 
tion of  outward  rejoicing.  Immediately  after  the 
first  rumours  got  about,  between  five  and  six 
o'clock,  the  doors  of  the  newspaper  offices  were 
besieged  by  crowds  —  all  wanting  to  know  one 
thing.  It  was  not  about  the  victory.  The  one 
thing  people  asked  about  was — if  it  was  really 
true  about  Lord  Nelson?  That — Nelson's  death 
—  was  uppermost  in  everybody's  mind.  The 
victory  was  of  course  a  tremendous  one,  the 
greatest  ever  heard  of: — but  Nelson,  "Our  Nel," 
as  the  sailors  called  him,  was  gone ! 

"  The  first  impression,"  says  Lord  Malmesbury, 
"was  not  joy,  for  Nelson  fell.  .  .  .  Not  one 
individual  who  felt  joy  at  the  victory  so  well  timed 
and  so  complete,  but  first  had  an  instinctive  feeling 
of  sorrow  .  .  .  the  sorrow  of  affection  and  grati- 
tude for  what  had  been  done  for  us." 

Pitt,  the  Prime  Minister,  told  Lord  Malmesbury 
that  evening  how  the  news  had  affected  him,  as 
Lord  Malmesbury  himself  relates.  "  On  the  receipt 
of  the  news  of  the  memorable  battle  of  Trafalgar 
(some  day  in  November  1805),  I  happened  to  dine 
with  Pitt,  and  it  was  naturally  the  engrossing  sub- 
ject of  our  conversation.     I  shall  never  forget  the 


PITT   UNABLE  TO   SLEEP   FOR   THE   NEWS     355 

eloquent  manner  in  which  he  described  his  con- 
flicting feelings  when  roused  in  the  night  to  read 
CoUingwood's  despatches.  Pitt  observed  that  he 
had  been  called  up  at  various  hours  in  his  eventful 
life  by  the  arrival  of  news  of  various  hues,  but 
that,  whether  good  or  bad,  he  could  always  lay  his 
head  on  his  pillow  and  sink  into  a  sound  sleep 
again.  On  this  occasion,  however,  the  great  event 
announced  brought  with  it  so  much  to  weep  over, 
as  well  as  to  rejoice  at,  that  he  could  not  calm  his 
thoughts,  but  at  length  got  up,  though  it  was  three 
in  the  morning." 
Wrote  Canning : — 

O  price,  his  conquering  Country  griev'd  to  pay ! 
O  dear-bought  glories  of  Trafalgar's  day ! 
Lamented  Hero  !  when  to  Britain's  shore 
Exulting  fame  those  aweful  tidings  bore, 
Joy's  bursting  shout  in  whelming  grief  was  drowned. 
And  Victory's  self  unwilling  audience  found ; 
On  every  brow  the  cloud  of  sadness  hung, 
The  sounds  of  triumph  died  on  every  tongue ! 

Lady  Elizabeth  Hervey,  writing  to  her  son  in 
America,  speaks  of  the  "  mingled  pride  and  con- 
sternation "  with  which  the  news  was  everywhere 
received.  "  The  illuminations  began  but  were  dis- 
continued, the  people  being  unable  to  rejoice." 
Writing  on  the  29th  of  November,  she  says  that  it 
would  have  been  useless  to  write  when  the  news  first 
arrived.  "  Nothing  that  I  could  have  said  would 
have  conveyed  to  you  any  idea  of  the  impression 
made  on  the  public  by  the  loss  of  their  favourite 


356  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

hero.  ...  As  we  came  away  (from  the  Admiralty), 
there  was  a  vast  rush  of  people,  but  all  silent, 
or  a  murmur  of  respect  and  sorrow ;  some  of  the 
common  people  saying,  '  It  is  bad  news  if  Nelson 
is  killed,'  yet  they  knew  that  twenty  ships  were 
taken.  A  man  at  the  turnpike  gate  said  to  Sir 
Ellis,  who  was  going  through,  *Sir,  have  you  heard 
the  bad  news  ?  We  have  taken  twenty  ships  from 
the  enemy,  but  Lord  Nelson  is  killed  1 ' " 

Speaking  of  the  feeling  at  Nelson's  funeral,  Lady 
Elizabeth  says  further:  "In  the  thousands  that 
were  collected  on  that  day,  it  was  a  silence  which 
nothing  broke  through  but  a  sort  of  murmur  of 
'Hats  off!'  as  the  Car  passed,  and  ejaculations  of 
*  God  bless  his  soul  who  died  for  us  to  protect  us ; 
never  shall  we  see  his  like  again ! '  The  show  al- 
together was  magnificent,  but  the  common  people, 
when  the  crew  of  the  Victory  passed,  said,  '  We 
had  rather  see  them  than  all  the  show  1 ' " 

"  Never,"  wrote  Lady  Castlereagh  from  Ireland, 
on  the  news  reaching  her,  "  was  there,  indeed,  an 
event  so  mournfully  and  so  triumphantly  im- 
portant to  England  as  the  battle  of  Trafalgar. 
The  sentiment  of  lamenting  the  individual,  more 
than  the  rejoicing  in  the  victory,  shows  the 
humanity  and  affection  of  the  people  of  England, 
but  their  good  sense  on  reflection  will  dwell  only 
on  the  conquest,  because  no  death  at  a  future 
moment  could  have  been  more  glorious,  and  might 


"TOO   GREAT   A   PRICE"  357 

have  been  less  so.  The  public  would  never  have 
sent  him  on  another  expedition,  his  health  was  not 
equal  to  another  effort,  and  he  might  have  yielded 
to  the  more  natural  but  less  imposing  efforts  of 
more  worldly  honours !  Whereas  he  now  begins 
his  immortal  career,  having  nothing  to  achieve  on 
earth,  and  bequeathing  to  the  English  Fleet  a 
legacy  which  they  alone  are  able  to  improve. 
Had  I  been  his  wife  or  his  mother,  I  would  rather 
have  wept  him  dead  than  see  him  languish  on  a 
less  splendid  day.  In  such  a  death  there  is  no 
sting,  and  in  such  a  grave  everlasting  victory." 

This  is  what  the  "  Times  "  said  on  the  day  after 
the  news  was  known : — 

"  The  victory  created  none  of  those  enthusiastic 
emotions  in  the  public  mind  which  the  successes 
of  our  naval  arms  have  in  every  former  instance 
produced.  There  was  not  a  man  who  did  not  think 
that  the  life  of  the  Hero  of  the  Nile  was  too  great 
a  price  for  the  capture  and  destruction  of  twenty 
sail  of  French  and  Spanish  men  of  war.  No 
ebullitions  of  popular  transport,  no  demonstrations 
of  public  joy,  marked  this  great  and  important 
event.  The  honest  and  manly  feeling  of  the 
people  appeared  as  it  should  have  done :  they  felt 
an  inward  satisfaction  at  the  triumph  of  their 
favourite  arms;  they  mourned  with  all  the  sin- 
cerity and  poignancy  of  domestic  grief  their  Hero 
slain." 


358  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

Their  sorrow  at  Nelson's  loss  apart,  nothing 
could  have  been  finer  than  the  spirit  that  actuated 
those  who  had  friends  in  the  battle.  Mr.  Secretary 
Marsden,  to  whom  it  fell  to  interview  several 
anxious  relatives  calling  at  the  Admiralty  for  news, 
records  one  or  two  cases  that  came  under  his 
own  observation.  Lady  Arden,  he  says,  in  the 
middle  of  her  own  personal  solicitude  for  her  son, 
was  "  full  of  hope  that  the  Orion  has  not  had  less 
than  her  share  in  this  glorious  conflict,"  a  senti- 
ment that  Mr.  Marsden  considered  "worthy  of  a 
Roman  matron  in  Rome's  best  day."  A  general 
who  was  informed  that  his  son's  ship  "had  had  a 
full  share  of  the  glory,"  excitedly  hugged  the 
Secretary  of  the  Admiralty,  overcome  with  feel- 
ings of  pride.  After  his  interviews  one  day,  Mr. 
Marsden  was  walking  in  St.  James's  Park,  when 
he  passed  two  poor  women  talking  together.  He 
overheard  one  say  to  the  other :  "  It  is  true  that  I 
have  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  two  sons  killed, 
but  then  you  know,  my  dear,  that  is  a  feather  in 
my  cap  1 " 

Of  the  scene  at  night  when  London  was  illu- 
minated and  everybody  turned  out  into  the  streets, 
we  have  this  from  Lord  Malmesbury :  "  I  never 
saw  so  little  public  joy.  The  illumination  seemed 
dim  and  as  it  were  half-clouded  by  the  desire  of 
expressing  the   mixture  of   contending  feelings; 


"THE   LOSS   IS   IRREPARABLE"  359 

every  common  person  in  the  streets  speaking 
first  of  their  sorrow  for  him,  and  then  of  the 
victory." 

Everywhere  along  the  streets,  over  every  shop 
and  in  front  of  every  private  house,  reference  was 
made  first  and  foremost  to  Nelson.  Everywhere 
were  seen  his  initials  over  anchors,  or  transparencies 
of  men-of-war,  or  figures  of  Britannia ;  or  medal- 
lions with  his  portrait  festooned  with  lamps ;  or 
—  one  of  the  commonest  devices  —  the  name 
"  Nelson  "  in  coloured  lamps  by  itself.  At  Acker- 
mann's  "  Art  Repository  "  in  the  Strand  was  dis- 
played an  altar,  on  which  was  an  urn  surrounded 
with  laurels  and  oak  branches,  bearing  the  legend, 
"  Sacred  to  the  memory  of  the  immortal  Nelson ! " 
Outside  another  large  shop  in  the  Strand  all  was 
dark  except  for  a  large  transparency  edged  with 
violet  and  bearing  the  words,  "The  Victory  is 
great,  but  the  loss  is  irreparable  ! "  Similarly  with 
the  illuminations  by  private  residents.  The  note 
of  personal  grief  was  universally  predominant. 
One  house  in  Finsbury  Square,  for  instance,  dis- 
played a  device  in  violet-coloured  lamps:  "I  rejoice 
for  my  country ;  I  mourn  for  my  friend ! "  The 
theatres  were  among  the  foremost  in  their  displays, 
in  their  characteristically  effusive  way.  One  theatre 
showed,  for  instance,  a  huge  transparency  repre- 
senting Britannia  seated  holding  up  a  medallion 
of  Nelson  crowned  with  laurel  and  oak  leaves,  and 


360  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

with  a  lion  at  her  side,  and  in  the  background  a 
representation  of  ships  and  warhke  emblems,  and 
the  legend,  "  Victorious  Nelson,  I  will  avenge  thy 
death."  Covent  Garden  displayed  outside  a  large 
"N"  in  violet-coloured  lamps,  with  an  anchor  in 
red  lamps,  and  a  branch  of  laurel.^ 

Throughout  the  country  the  celebrations  were 
marked  by  the  same  note  of  personal  grief  at  the 
loss  of  the  nation's  darling  hero.  At  Norwich,  the 
county  town  of  Nelson's  own  county,  the  Corpora- 
tion went  into  mourning  for  a  week.  At  Chester 
the  cathedral  bells  rang  merry  peals  of  rejoicing 
for  the  victory ;  alternating  with  deep,  solemn  toll- 
ing for  Nelson.     Three  of  the  great  bells  pealed 

1  This  is  what  took  place  inside  the  theatre  according  to  a  contem- 
porary newspaper  account.  ''  The  Proprietors  of  this  Theatre,  ever 
alive  to  the  national  glory,  produced  a  hasty  hut  elegant  compliment 
to  the  memory  of  Lord  Nelson.  When  the  curtain  drew  up  we  were 
surprised  with  the  view  of  a  superb  naval  scene.  It  consisted  of 
columns  in  the  foreground,  decorated  with  medallions  of  the 
Naval  Heroes  of  Britain.  In  the  distance  a  number  of  ships  were 
seen,  and  the  front  of  the  picture  was  filled  by  Mr.  Taylor  and  the 
principal  singers  of  the  Theatre.  They  were  grouped  in  an  interesting 
manner,  with  their  eyes  turned  towards  the  clouds,  from  whence  a 
half-length  portrait  of  Lord  Nelson  descended,  with  the  following 
words  underwritten:  'Horatio  Nelson,  Ob.  21st  Oct.'  Mr.  Taylor 
and  the  other  performers  then  sang  'Rule,  Britannia,'  verse  and 
chorus.  The  following  additional  verse,  written  by  Mr.  Ashley,  of 
Bath,  was  introduced  and  sung  by  Mr.  Taylor,  with  the  most  alFeoting 
expression  :  it  was  universally  encored  : — 

'  Again  the  loud-toned  trump  of  fame 
Proclaims  Britannia  rules  the  main. 
While  sorrow  whispers  Nelson's  name. 
And  mourns  the  gallant  victor  slain. 
Rule,  brave  Britons,  rule  the  main. 
Revenge  the  God-like  Hero  slain.'" 


^'POOR   NELSON:   HAD   HE  ONLY   LIVED!"     36l 

out  together  exultantly  ;  the  fourth  tolled  through- 
out a  slow  and  solemn  note : — 

For  St.  Olave  and  St.  Oswald  and  Earl  Hugh, 
Sang  like  morning-stars  together  in  the  blue  ; 
And  the  quick,  exulting  changes  of  their  peal 
Made  the  heavens  above  them  laugh  and  the  joyful 
city  reel. 

Oh!  that  blithe  November  morning,  Eighteen- 
Five— 

Every  Englishman  was  glad  to  be  alive — 
As  the  joy-bells  clashed  in  Chester,  ancient  Chester 

on  the  Dee. 

Hark !  in  pauses  of  the  revel — sole  and  slow — 
Old  St.  Werburgh  swings  a  heavy  note  of  woe ! 
Hark  !  between  the  jocund  peals,  a  single  toll. 
Stem  and  muffled,  marks  the  passing  of  a  soul ! 

English  hearts  were  sad  that  day  as  sad  could 
be— 

English  eyes  so  dimmed  with  tears  they  scarce 
could  see — 
All  the  joy  was  dashed  with  grief  in  ancient  Chester 

on  the  Dee. 

In  several  other  places,  we  are  told,  the  bells 
were  muffled  and  rang  dumb  peals  only.  All 
over  the  country,  when  the  mayors  of  the  towns 
read  out  the  "Gazette"  announcing  the  victory, 
instead  of  huzzas  and  shouts,  there  was  gloom 
and  tears  and  silence,  everyone  saying  "Poor 
Nelson :  had  he  only  lived  ! " 

Even  children  in  the  schoolroom  realized  Nel- 
son's death  as  a  sort  of  personal  loss. 

"  I  remember  well  the  battle  of  Trafalgar,"  said 
Lady  Wenlock,  who  died  in  1869.     "  I  was  seven 


362  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

years  old  then,  but  I  knew  the  names  of  all  the 
ships  and  captains.  My  sister  was  then  mistress 
of  my  father's  house,  and  I  was  sent  for  down  to 
her.  She  was  not  up,  and  the  newspaper  was 
lying  on  the  bed.  '  Oh,  my  dear,'  she  said,  *  my 
father  has  sent  me  up  the  newspaper,  and  we  have 
taken  twenty  ships  of  the  line ;  but — Nelson  is 
dead  ! '  Child  as  I  was,  I  burst  into  tears ;  one  had 
been  taught  to  think  that  nothing  could  go  on 
without  him ! " 

Countess  Brownlow  (who  died  in  1872),  a 
daughter  of  the  second  Earl  of  Mount  Edgcumbe, 
relates  in  her  "Reminiscences  of  a  Septuagen- 
arian," that  in  1805,  when  she  was  in  the  school- 
room at  lessons,  the  news  of  Trafalgar  and  of 
Nelson's  death  was  brought  in,  and  that  she 
dropped  to  the  ground  in  horror  at  the  news, 
although  she  had  never  seen  Nelson. 

An  old  Christ's  Hospital  "  boy,"  who  died  eight 
or  nine  years  ago  at  the  age  of  103,  was  at  school 
at  the  time.  When  the  news  arrived,  he  said, 
"we  let  up  fireworks  for  the  victory  and  then 
drank  a  little  glass  of  sherry  for  Lord  Nelson  in 
solemn  silence." 

Celebrations  in  honour  of  the  victory  were  held 
during  the  following  week  at  the  various  ports  and 
garrisons  and  mihtary  stations,  and  gun  salutes 
and  feux  de  Joie  were  fired.  At  every  place,  we 
are  told,  the  Army  officers  appeared  on  parade  in 


HOW  SAILORS  FELT  IT  THE  WORLD  OVER     363 

full  mourning,  and  with  their  colours  and  band 
instruments  "  draped  in  crape  ribbon." 

On  Sir  Richard  Strachan's  squadron  reaching 
Plymouth  with  its  prizes  (Dumanoir's  refugee 
squadron)  in  the  week  after  the  arrival  of  CoUing- 
wood's  despatch,  we  are  also  told,  "the  seamen 
coming  ashore,  on  leave,  each  wore  a  knot  of  love- 
crape  ribbon  fastened  above  his  left  elbow." 

As  to  how  the  news  was  received  by  the  Fleet 
elsewhere,  we  have  this  from  an  officer  of  the 
frigate  "Immortality,"  belonging  to  one  of  the 
squadrons  watching  the  French  coast  near  Bou- 
logne: "It  was  during  this  cruise  that  we  first 
heard  of  the  mighty  victory  of  Trafalgar  .  .  .  and 
I  can  well  remember  how  much  the  pride  and 
exultation,  which  we  should  otherwise  have  felt  at 
our  country's  success,  were  saddened  and  subdued 
by  the  irreparable  loss  of  her  favourite  Hero.  In- 
stead of  shouts  and  songs  of  triumph  and  gratu- 
lation,  the  subject  was  mentioned  in  broken 
whispers,  and  all  seemed  to  feel,  not  only  that  some 
great  national  calamity  had  befallen  the  land,  but 
as  if  each  individual  had  lost  a  friend  and  leader, 
with  whom  it  would  have  been  the  happiness  of 
his  life  to  serve  and  follow." 

An  officer  serving  on  the  East  Indies  station 
relates  that  when  the  news  reached  his  ship  several 
of  his  men,  who  had  served  previously  with  Nelson, 
broke  down  entirely  on  hearing  of  his  death,  and 
were  useless  for  duty  for  some  days. 


364^  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

"On  the  19th  of  November,"  says  the  "Naval 
Chronicle,"  "  all  the  Ships  in  the  road  of  Elsineur 
fired  three  discharges  in  celebration  of  the  Victory 
off  Cadiz.  Immediately  afterwards  their  flags 
were  lowered  and  three  minute-guns  fired,  on 
account  of  the  death  of  Lord  Nelson." 

In  the  West  Indies,  saved  by  Nelson  person- 
ally from  Villeneuve's  threatened  raid  in  that  very 
year,  the  sorrow  at  his  loss  was  universal,  and 
completely  overshadowed  all  the  rejoicings  for  the 
victory.  It  was  fittingly  typified  by  what  took 
place  in  Jamaica,  at  Kingston,  the  chief  city  of  the 
islands,  on  the  day  of  the  official  celebration  of 
Trafalgar.  A  funeral  pyre  was  erected,  forty-seven 
feet  in  height  and  forty-seven  feet  each  way,  the 
number  corresponding  with  that  of  Nelson's  years 
of  life.  On  the  officially  appointed  day,  at  six  in 
the  evening,  the  local  mUitia  formed  up  in  a  hollow 
square  round  the  pyre,  which  was  set  light  to 
at  forty-seven  points  at  once.  As  it  blazed  up  a 
funeral  oration  to  Nelson  was  delivered  by  the 
Governor  of  the  Colony.  Forty-seven  minute- 
guns  were  then  fired,  with  a  general  discharge  of 
musketry  between  each  shot,  and  forty-seven 
rockets  were  sent  up. 

In  what  manner  England  honoured  the  remains 
of  her  dead  hero  when  they  reached  these  shores, 
all  the  world  knows : — 

Such  honours  Ilium  to  her  hero  paid^ 

And  peaceful  slept  the  mighty  Hector's  shade. 


NAPOLEON  RECEIVES  THE  NEWS  AT  DINNER     365 

Napoleon,  says  Marbot,  received  the  news  of 
Trafalgar  on  the  18th  of  November,  at  Znaim,  in 
Moravia,  when  on  the  march  to  the  battlefield  of 
Austerlitz.  "  Just  as  he  was  quietly  sitting  down 
to  table,  Berthier  put  into  his  hand  a  despatch  an- 
nouncing Trafalgar  and  its  result.  He  displayed, 
however,  no  emotion,  concealed  the  news,  and 
simply  wrote  to  Decres  'that  he  should  wait  for 
more  particulars  before  forming  a  definite  opinion 
on  the  nature  of  this  affair,  which  would  moreover 
in  no  way  change  his  plan  of  cruising.' "  This  is 
what  Napoleon  wrote :  "  All  this  makes  no  change 
in  my  cruising  projects ;  I  am  annoyed  that  all  is 
not  ready  yet.  They  must  set  out  without  delay." 
He  added,  with  reference  to  the  Cadiz  fleet: 
"  Cause  all  the  troops  that  are  on  board  the  squad- 
ron to  come  to  me  by  land.  They  will  await  my 
orders  at  the  first  town  in  France." 

According  to  one  story,  in  the  course  of  the 
evening.  Napoleon,  musing  gloomily  over  the  news, 
asked  Berthier  how  old  Paul  Jones  was  when  he 
died.  Berthier  replied  that  he  thought  he  was 
forty-five.  "Then,"  said  Napoleon,  "he  did  not 
fulfil  his  destiny.  Had  he  lived  to  this  time, 
France  might  have  had  an  admiral  I"  Said  Na- 
poleon afterwards  :  "  Our  admirals  are  always  talk- 
ing about  'pelagic  conditions '  and  'ulterior  objects.' 
As  if  there  was  any  condition  or  any  object  in  war 
except  to  get  in  contact  with  the  enemy  and 
destroy  him.     That  was  Paul  Jones's  view  of  the 


366  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

conditions  and  objects  of  naval  warfare.  It  was 
also  Nelson's.  It  is  a  pity  they  could  not  have 
been  matched,  with  fairly  equal  force." 

"  Je  saurai  bien  apprendre  mes  amiraux  Fran^ais 
a  vaincrel"  was  the  Emperor's  final  word  that 
night.^ 

The  Grand  Army  heard  of  the  fate  of  the  fleet 
about  the  same  time ;  first  of  all,  we  are  told,  at 
the  surrender  of  the  Austrian  Marshal  Jellachich 
to  Augereau's  army  corps  in  the  Tyrol. 

"  During  the  interview  which  the  two  marshals 
held  on  this  occasion,"  says  Marbot,  "  the  Austrian 
officers,  who  were  humiliated  by  the  recent  reverses 
to  their  arms  (at  Ulm),  gave  themselves  the 
malicious  pleasure  of  imparting  to  us  a  very  un- 
welcome piece  of  news,  which  had  hitherto  been 
concealed  from  us,  but  which  the  Russians  and 
Austrians  had  learnt  by  way  of  England.  The 
French  and  Spanish  fleets  had  been  beaten  by 
Lord  Nelson  on  October  20th  not  far  from  Cadiz, 
off*  Cape  Trafalgar." 

Good  care  was  taken  to  let  the  garrison  at 
Boulogne,  and  the  seamen  of  the  flotilla  there, 
know  about  it.  Says  a  paragraph  in  the  "  Times  " 
of  Saturday,  the  9th  of  November : — 

"Sir  Sidney  Smith  has  repaid  Commodore 
Robin  in  his  own  coin.     On  Thursday  he  sent  a 

^  "  The  next  day,  the  Emperor  started  off  at  a  gallop ;  he  was 
sullen.  'AH  does  not  go  well,'  said  our  chiefs;  'he  is  angry.*" 
(Narrative  of  Coignet,  of  the  Grenadiers  of  the  Imperial  Guard, 
November,  1806.) 


NOT   A  WORD   IN   THE   ^'MONITEUR"         367 

cutter  over  to  the  French  coast  with  the  Extra- 
ordinary Gazette,  containing  the  news  of  the 
victory  over  the  Combined  Squadron.  He  apolo- 
gized for  forwarding  it  by  a  boat  having  no  one  on 
board,  remarking,  'that  the  last  flag  of  truce  he 
sent  in,  the  officer  was  very  honourably  detained.' " 
The  news  filtered  through,  later  on,  to  the 
English  prisoners  in  France;  who,  for  the  most 
part,  found  means  of  commemorating  the  victory. 
Even  at  the  great  central  depot  at  Verdun  they 
found  means  to  celebrate  Trafalgar  and  commemo- 
rate Nelson ;  as  is  related  by  an  unlucky  midship- 
man, whom  the  fortune  of  war  had  thrown  into 
the  brutal  Colonel  Wirion's  hands.  "It  was 
nearly  two  months  before  news  reached  us  of 
Nelson's  glorious  victory;  about  seventy  mids 
were  confined  in  the  citadel.  A  subscription  for 
supper  and  wine  was  immediately  set  on  foot,  and 
although  borne  down  with  sorrow  and  oppression, 
we  participated  in  the  joy  of  victory  and  shed  a 
tributary  tear  for  the  fate  of  Nelson." 

In  France,  what  had  happened  at  Trafalgar  was 
hushed  up,  as  far  as  the  promulgation  of  official 
news  went.  Not  a  line  about  the  battle  was 
allowed  to  appear  in  the  "  Moniteur,"  the  official 
newspaper.^     "An    event,"    says    Lanfrey,   "did 

*  Ulm  and  Austerlitz  rendered  it  the  easier  to  keep  things  quiet 
about  Trafalgar.  All  France  was  ringing  with  the  news  of  Ulm,  its 
thirty  captured  generals  and  seventy  thousand  other  prisoners,  just  at 
the  moment  that  Collingwood's  first  despatch  was  crossing  the  Bay  of 


368  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

not  exist  until  it  had  been  duly  stated  and  legal- 
ized by  the  '  Moniteur.'  Nelson  might  destroy  our 
navy  at  Trafalgar ;  the  insolent  fact  was  not  recog- 
nized." "The  silence  of  the  'Moniteur'  on  the 
subject,"  notes  Sir  Harris  Nicolas,^  "is  the  more 
remarkable,  because  it  regularly  transferred  to  its 
pages  from  the  English  Journals  notices  of  the 
movements  of  our  ships,  and  even  quoted  the 
English  Newspapers  which  were  filled  with  ac- 
counts of  the  Battle.^  A  still  more  extraordinary 
instance  of  the  restraint  imposed  on  the '  Moniteur,' 
was  shown  by  that  journal  on  the  30th  of  Novem- 
ber, when  it  mentioned  the  Proclamation  in  the 
'  London  Gazette '  of  the  18th  of  that  month,  com- 
manding a  general  thanksgiving  to  be  observed  on 
the  5th  of  December,  but  carefully  suppressed  that 
it  was  *  for  the  late  signal  and  important  Victory 

Biscay.  Napoleon's  message  to  the  Senate  —  "I  send  you  forty  stand 
of  colours,  which  my  army  has  conquered  in  the  different  actions 
which  took  place  since  that  at  Wertingen.  It  is  a  homage  which  I 
and  my  army  pay  to  the  Sages  of  the  Empire ;  it  is  an  offering  made 
by  children  to  their  father" — was  being  read  in  Paris  almost  at  the 
very  moment  that  Lieutenant  Lapenotiere  was  coming  ashore  at  Fal- 
mouth. The  news  of  Austerlitz,  with  its  tale  of  180  captured  guns  and 
eleven  thousand  prisoners,  arrived  in  France  just  after  the  "  Victory," 
with  Nelson's  body  on  board,  had  cast  anchor  at  St.  Helens.  The 
fifty-three  flags  taken  at  Austerlitz,  including  the  standards  of  the 
Tsar's  Imperial  Guard,  were  just  arriving  at  the  Invalides  at  the  time 
of  Nelson's  funeral. 

^  ''  Despatches  and  Letters  of  Lord  Nelson,"  vol.  VII,  p.  263. 

'  There  had  been  no  reticence  over  Villeneuve's  action  with 
Calder,  the  account  of  which  filled  some  columns  in  the  ''Moniteur." 
Napoleon  had  expressed  himself  at  first  satisfied  with  that,  and  had 
the  account  specially  inserted.     Afterwards,  he  took  another  view. 


ONE   ACCOUNT   ESCAPES   THE   CENSOR        369 

obtained  over  the  Combined  Fleets  of  France  and 
Spain.' " 

All  the  same,  one  or  two  papers  in  France  did 
manage  to  evade  the  censorship.  Muzzled  as  the 
Press  everywhere  was,  mention  was  made  in  one 
or  two  quarters  that  there  had  been  a  battle  at  sea, 
the  outcome  of  which  was  variously  stated. 

This  is  what  the  "Journal  du  Commerce"  told  its 
readers :  "  It  has  been  rumoured,  on  the  authority 
of  private  letters,  for  some  days,  that  there  has 
been  an  action  off  the  coast  of  Spain,  between  the 
Combined  Fleets  of  France  and  Spain  and  the 
English  squadron.  According  to  these  accounts, 
the  French  squadron,  commanded  by  Admiral 
ViLLENEUVE,  and  the  Spanish  by  Admiral 
Gravina,  came  out  of  Cadiz,  on  the  18th  or 
19th  of  last  month,  when  they  were  fallen  in  with 
by  the  English  Fleet,  under  the  command  of 
Admiral  Nelson.  A  most  bloody  action  took 
place,  in  which  both  fleets  fought  with  the  greatest 
determination,  and  in  which  each  of  them  suffered 
most  severely.  Towards  the  end  of  the  engage- 
ment a  violent  storm  came  on,  which  dispersed  the 
ships.  It  is  reported  that  one  Spanish  and  one 
English  ship  were  blo\yn  up.  It  is  also  reported 
that  some  of  the  commanders  were  killed  or 
dangerously  wounded.  But  these  private  letters 
coming  from  no  authentic  source,  it  would  be 
imprudent  lightly  to  spread  an  alarm,  for  which, 
perhaps,  there  is  no  foundation ;  and  it  would  be 


2    B 


370  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

proper  to  suspend  opinions  until  the  official  intel- 
ligence shall  give  some  positive  information  respect- 
ing this  important  event." 

According  to  a  paragraph  in  the  London  "  Ob- 
server" of  the  15th  of  November,  the  news  was 
widely  known  in  Holland :  "  The  French  and 
Dutch  Papers  which  have  arrived,  the  former  to 
the  8th,  and  the  latter  to  the  12th  inst.,  observe  a 
total  silence  on  the  late  naval  victories;  but  private 
Letters  from  Holland,  dated  the  11th,  mention 
that  the  intelligence  had  reached  Rotterdam,  and 
created  the  greatest  sensation."  Another  Letter, 
said  to  have  been  received  from  Paris,  mentions 
that  event  in  the  following  terms:  'It  is  ascer- 
tained here,  that  a  severe  action  has  at  length 
been  fought  between  the  English  and  the  Com- 
bined Fleets,  off  Cadiz,  all  that  we  hear  on  the 
subject  is  that  ten  sail  returned  to  Cadiz,  not  being 
wanted  in  the  action  !  !  ! ' " 

A  week  previously  a  private  correspondent  of 
the  "Times"  in  Paris  had  reported  what  was  being 
said  there  about  Trafalgar,  to  the  following  effect : 
"  We  have  as  yet  nothing  but  vague  and  uncertain 
particulars  of  the  engagement  by  sea  which  took 
place  off  Cadiz.  They  speak  of  a  very  briUiant 
exploit  of  Captain  Cosmo,  of  the  Pluto,  who, 
with  only  his  own  ship  and  a  few  frigates,  ex- 
tricated and  brought  to  Cadiz  three  Spanish  ships 
which  had  been  dismasted,  and  had  fallen  into  the 
power  of  the  enemy.    It  is  also  reported  that  three 


"A   LETTER  FROM   LONDON"  371 

English  ships,  which  were  dismasted  and  could  not 
reach  Gibraltar,  were  wrecked  on  the  coast  of  Spain. 
It  is  said  that  Lord  Nelson  was  killed,  and  that 
Admiral  Gravina  had  lost  an  arm ;  that  a  French 
Rear- Admiral  was  killed,  and  that  several  ships  of 
both  fleets  were  lost.  Vice- Admiral  Rosilly,  who 
was  to  take  the  command  of  the  Combined  Fleet 
at  Cadiz,  arrived  there  three  days  after  Admirals 
ViLLENEUVE  and  Gravina  had  sailed." 

The  Spanish  newspapers,  on  the  other  hand, 
made  no  secret  about  the  disaster.  No  attempt 
was  made  to  gag  their  utterances.  Every  paper 
in  Spain,  almost,  had  its  own  account  of  Trafalgar ; 
and  gave  also,  in  many  cases,  extracts  from  the 
admirals'  despatches,  as  made  public  by  the  official 
"Gazeta  de  Madrid,"  with,  in  addition,  letters 
from  survivors  of  the  battle.  At  the  same  time 
the  Spanish  editors  were  not  always  scrupulous  as 
to  the  authenticity  of  their  news — where  it  told 
against  the  enemy.  One  flagrant  departure  from 
the  truth,  in  especial,  which  obtained  the  widest 
circulation,  was  an  elaborate  tour  deforce  by  some 
enterprising  Cadiz  reporter.  It  found  its  way  to 
the  "Madrid  Gazette"  as  "A  Letter  from  London," 
and  after  being  quoted  elsewhere  in  the  Spanish 
Press,  crossed  the  Pyrenees,  to  be  translated  and 
form  the  solitary  reference  in  detail  to  Trafalgar 
that  appeared  in  print  in  France.  It  purported  to 
give  a  list,  "  from  the  report  of  Admiral  Colling- 
wood  to  the  Admiralty,"  of  the  British  losses  in 


372 


THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 


and  after  the  battle.     The  "  report "  is  sufficiently 
curious  in  itself  to  have  a  place  for  it  found  here. 

"  London,  November  26th. 

'*  In  society,  at  the  theatre  and  places  of  entertainment,  at 
balls,  all  the  ladies  in  evening  dress  wear  cypress  in  then*  head- 
dress in  memory  of  Lord  Nelson. 

"  The  loss  of  Lord  Nelson,  however,  is  not  the  only  loss  that 
we  have  to  deplore  in  the  terrible  battle  which  has  taken  place 
oiF  Cadiz  between  our  Fleet  and  that  of  the  Combined  Fleet. 
One  may  judge  of  these  when  one  reads  the  following  extract 
from  the  despatch  that  Admiral  CoUingwood  has  forwarded  to 
the  Admiralty : — 

"STATE  OF  THE  BRITISH    FLEET   AFTER  THE 
BATTLE   OF   OCTOBER   19. 


Victory  .         .100 


*Prince  of  Wales  .  98 

Britannia                 .  98 

Dreadnought         .  98 

Tem^raire              .  98 


Neptune  and  Prince  98 
*Queen 


*Donegal 
*Canopus 

*Tigre 
*Tonnant 

Spencer 

Le  Spartiate 


98 

80 
80 

80 
80 

74 

74 


Entirely    dismasted    in    the    act    of 

breaking  the  line.     Admiral  Nelson 

wounded ;  he  died  seven  hours  after 

the  battle. 
Sunk  in  the  action. 
Sunk  in  the  action. 

All  the  hull  riddled  with  cannon  shot. 
Dismasted ;  the  masts  of  the  French 

ship  "  Aigle"  fell  on  her  deck  and 

killed  many  of  the  crew. 
Both  sunk ;  and  the  masts  of  the  first 

and  the  rudder  of  the  second  have 

been  found  on  Conil  beach. 
Lost  her  foretopmast  and  mizen;  at 

Gibraltar  much  damaged. 
Dismasted  on  the  Barbary  coast. 
Dismasted   and  taken    alongside   the 

sheer  hulk  at  Gibraltar. 
Sunk  off  the  coast  near  Sta.   Maria. 
Burnt  by  the  Fleet  five  or  six  leagues 

N.W.  of  Cadiz. 
Came  into  Gibraltar  in  tow  of  a  frigate 

making  signals  for  assistance. 
Sunk  after  the  action,  on  the  coast 

near  Rota. 

Not  in  the  battle. 


"THEIR   FLEET   IS   DESTROYED 


373 


Defence 

.     74 

Swiftsure 

.     74 

Orion 

.     74 

Leviathan 

.     74 

♦Zealous 

.     74 

Conqueror 

.     74 

Revenge 

.     74 

Achille 

.     74 

Minotaur 

.     74 

Colossus 

.     74 

Mars 

.     74' 

Bellerophon 

•     74^ 

Polyphemus 

.     74 

Esparciata 

.     74 

*Camatic 

.     74 

Ships  ^ 

(VHICH   JOIN 

tTheDukeol 

'York    90 

Royal  Sovere 

ign    .   100 

tLe  Leger    . 

.     80 

fRelampago 

.     74 

Without  mainmast ;    at   Gibraltar. 
Lost  her  foretopmast;  at  Gibraltar. 
Dismasted,,  on  the  coast  of  Africa. 
Under  sail^  and  lost  her  maintopmast. 
Hull  damaged  ;  at  Gibraltar. 
Under  sail. 
At   Gibraltar,  the   second   without   a 

topsail  yard. 
Ran    ashore    on   the    coast   off   Conil 

or  San  Lucar. 
Idem. 

Under  sail. 

Under  sail,  without  a  mizen-mast. 
Sunk  after  the  battle  off  the  coast 

off  Rota. 
Under  sail — with  jury-masts. 


*Aquila 


74 


CD    THE    iiNGLISH    FlEET    AT    5    P.M. 

2  1st  October. 
Under  sail. 
Lost,  with  £400,000  sterling,  on  her 

way  to  Malta. 
Towed  by  an  English  frigate. 
Under  sail,  under  care  of  a  Swedish 

ship. 
Under  sail. 


"Note. — Rear- Admiral  Bickerton  was  wounded  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Action,  and  died  three  hours  after  it  was  ended. 
A  hundred-gun  ship,  three  Frigates,  and  one  Corvette  have 
sailed  from  Gibraltar  to  the  Westward  to  protect  the  Vessels 
which  have  grounded  or  are  dismasted.  This  account  is  taken 
from  that  despatched  from  Gibraltar  by  Admiral  Collingwood 
and  from  those  given  by  ships  that  have  come  into  that  Port. 
It  is  to  be  expected  that  the  English  would  not  exaggerate 
their  losses,  and  they  are  much  greater  than  they  choose  to 
represent  them.  But  it  is  sufficiently  evident  that  their 
Fleet  is  destroyed ;  and  some  Accounts  from  Cadiz  state  that 
their  loss  is  seven  or  eight  thousand  men — a  loss  that  England 
can  with  difficulty  replace." 

*  Not  in  the  battle.  t  No  such  ships  in  the  British  Navy. 


874  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

In  presenting  such  interesting  information  to 
his  readers,  the  editor  of  the  "  Gazette  de  Paris  " 
added  as  his  own  comment  on  the  news,  "Ce 
rapport  est  un  eclatant  temoignage  rendu  a  la 
valeur  des  Franijais." 

The  total  casualty  return  for  the  British  Fleet 
at  Trafalgar,  including  killed  and  wounded  and 
drowned,  sent  in  by  Admiral  CoUingwood, 
amounted  to  1,609  of  all  ranks  and  ratings.  The 
Spaniards  made  a  careful  estimate  of  their  losses, 
and  officially  stated  them  at  1,022  killed  and  1,383 
wounded,  a  total  of  2,405  men ;  in  addition  to  be- 
tween three  and  four  thousand  prisoners  taken  on 
board  the  prizes.  No  official  French  casualty  list 
was  ever  made  public,  but  as  far  as  could  be  ascer- 
tained at  Cadiz  after  the  battle,  the  French  losses 
in  action,  and  on  board  the  prizes  that  were  ship- 
wrecked after  the  battle,  were  4,528  men — 3,373 
killed  and  drowned,  and  1,155  wounded.  And 
there  were  at  least  as  many  French  prisoners  as 
Spanish.  The  monetary  loss  to  the  enemy  by 
their  defeat  at  Trafalgar — the  value  in  hard  cash 
of  the  nineteen  ships  with  their  stores  lost  by  the 
battle — CoUingwood  himself  estimated  at  four 
millions  sterling,  "  most  of  it,"  as  he  had  sorrow- 
fully to  add,  "  gone  to  the  bottom."  No  ships,  of 
course,  were  lost  on  our  side,  and  only  one  (the 
"Belleisle")  was  completely  dismasted.  Ten  of 
the  British  ships  did  not  lose  either  a  mast  or  a 


ALL  THAT   NAPOLEON   SAID  375 

yard,  and  in  the  rest  the  damage  in  this  regard 
was  confined  to  the  loss  of  a  topmast  in  some 
cases,  and  one  or  two  yards  in  others.  Not  more 
than  ten  at  most  suffered  serious  damage  in  hull, 
and  all  were  sufficiently  seaworthy  to  last  out  the 
storm  and  return  to  England.^ 

Napoleon's  one  and  only  public  reference  to 
Trafalgar  was  made  six  months  afterwards ;  on  the 
occasion  of  his  Imperial  Address  to  the  Corps 
L^gislatif  on  the  2nd  of  March,  1806.  He  gave 
one  sentence  of  his  Speech  from  the  Throne  to  it, 
and  not  a  word  more:  "Les  tempetes  nous  ont 
fait  perdre  quelques  vaisseaux  apres  un  combat  im- 
prudemment  engag^."    That  was  all.^ 

*  Admiral  Togo's  victory  in  the  battle  of  the  Sea  of  Japan  cost  the 
victors  637  in  casualties,  of  which  only  113  were  deaths,  in  or  after 
action.  It  cost  the  Russians,  it  has  been  estimated,  from  7,000  to 
12,000  in  killed  or  drowned,  and  4,600  in  captured,  while  the  value  of 
the  ships  destroyed  and  taken  was  upwards  of  185,000,000  roubles,  or, 
roughly,  £18,600,000  sterling. 

^  Incidentally  Napoleon  paid  Nelson  the  remarkable  tribute  of 
adopting  his  Trafalgar  signal  for  the  Imperial  Navy.  The  Emperor, 
within  four  months  of  Trafalgar,  directed  that  the  words,  '^  La  France 
compte  que  chacun  fera  son  devoir !  *'  should  be  painted  up  promi- 
nently on  board  every  man-of-war  in  his  navy.  ^'It  is  the  best  of 
lessons,*'  he  said  to  Decres,  when  giving  the  Minister  of  Marine  the 
order. 


CHAPTER    XXVII 

V.E  VICTIS:— THE  HULKS  AND  THE 
TRAGEDY  OF  RENNES 

ADMIRAL  VILLENEUVE  himself  was  the 
-  first  of  the  Trafalgar  prisoners  to  be  landed  in 
England.  He  was  sent  on  in  advance  of  the  others ; 
on  board  the  "Euryalus,"  which  brought  also 
CoUingwood's  second  despatch  to  the  Admiralty, 
with  the  captured  flags  ^  and  the  complete  list  of 
casualties.  Captain  Blackwood  left  the  ship  off 
the  Lizard  on  Sunday  morning,  the  24th  of  No- 
vember, proceeding  to  Falmouth  in  his  barge,  to 
post  thence  to  London,  as  Ijapenotiere  of  the 
"Pickle"  had  done.  By  that  means  he  gained  some 
days.  After  his  departure,  the  "  Euryalus  "  had  a 
stiff  beat  up  Channel,  only  arriving  at  Spithead 
on  the  forenoon  of  the  29th.  Admiral  Villeneuve 
and  Captain  Magendie  of  the  "  Bucentaure  "  were 

1  According  to  "  The  Naval  and  Military  Sketchbook "  (published 
in  1845),  the  Nile  and  Trafalgar  trophies  were  for  years  kept  grouped 
round  the  Nelson  statue  in  St.  Paul's ;  those  taken  by  Howe,  St. 
Vincent,  and  Duncan,  also  kept  in  the  cathedral,  were  grouped  round 
the  interior  of  the  dome.  All  are  stated  to  have  been  "  removed  to  the 
Painted  Hall,  Greenwich  Hospital,"  but  no  date  for  the  transfer 
is  given.     All  trace  of  them  unfortunately  is  now  lost. 

376 


ADMIRAL  VILLENEUVE   AT    PORTSMOUTH     377 

landed  at  Gosport  that  afternoon ;  their  servants 
and  twenty-two  other  Frenchmen  and  Spaniards 
brought  to  England  in  the  ship,  being  transhipped 
to  the  prison  hulk  "  San  Damaso "  next  day. 
"  Sent  the  French  admiral  and  captain  ashore  "  is 
the  matter-of-fact  way  in  which  the  log  of  the 
"  Euryalus  "  records  the  landing  of  Captain  Black- 
wood's distinguished  passengers. 

The  "  descriptive  reporter  "  had  no  place  on  the 
staff  of  the  newspaper  of  1805,  and  a  small-print 
paragraph,  among  items  of  domestic  interest,  was 
all  that  the  news  of  the  landing  as  a  prisoner  of 
war  of  the  enemy's  Commander-in-Chief  at  Tra- 
falgar was  considered  worth  by  the  few  editors  who 
noticed  the  event  at  all.  This  is  what  went  the 
round,  copied  from  the  "Hampshire  Telegraph," 
which  first  published  the  paragraph : — 

"  Admiral  Villeneuve. — The  Admiral  was 
landed  on  Friday  morning  at  Gosport  beach.  He 
was  brought  on  shore  by  the  Commissioner's  barge 
from  the  Euryalus  frigate,  lying  at  Spithead, 
and  walked  through  the  town  to  the  Crown  Inn, 
accompanied  only  by  his  second  captain,  Mar- 
chande  [sic],  and  Captain  Taylor,  of  the  Camilla 
sloop-of-war.  Admiral  Villeneuve  is  well  made, 
and  has  a  manly  countenance,  appears  to  be  about 
fifty  years  of  age,  and  is  between  five  feet  eight 
and  nine  inches  high.  He  seems  melancholy,  but 
not  despondent,  and  is  conscious  of  having  done 
his  duty.     He  acknowledged  several  times  on  the 


378  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

Euryalus  that  it  is  altogether  impossible  for  any 
naval  power  to  contend  with  that  of  England. 
He  speaks  EngUsh  but  imperfectly.  His  captain, 
Marchande,  has  been  taken  three  times  before,  and 
is  a  very  spirited  and  excellent  officer." 

After  stopping  for  the  night  at  Portsmouth — 
poor  Villeneuve  was  in  a  terribly  dejected  mood, 
and  suffered  so  severely  from  spasms  that  a  doctor 
had  to  be  called  in  —  the  French  admiral  and 
Magendie  were  driven  off  in  a  postchaise  to 
Bishop's  Waltham,  where  a  house  had  been  taken 
for  them  by  the  British  Government.  There  was 
a  depot  for  officers  on  parole  at  Bishop's  Waltham. 
Admiral  Villeneuve,  however,  did  not  remain  there 
many  days,  more  suitable  quarters  being  allotted 
to  him  and  Magendie  at  Reading.  There  was 
there  a  larger  depot  for  paroled  officers,  and  at 
Reading  Captain  Lucas,  and  Infernet  of  the  "  In- 
tr^pide,"  joined  their  chief.  Leave  to  visit  friends 
in  London  on  occasion  was  one  of  the  privileges 
accorded  to  senior  officers  interned  at  Reading, 
and  all  four  took  advantage  of  it.  Captain 
Lucas,  we  are  told,  received  many  invitations,  and 
was  made  a  sort  of  "  lion  "  in  London  society,  out 
of  compliment  to  his  personal  intrepidity  at 
Trafalgar.  Infernet  used  from  time  to  time  to  go 
up  to  call  on  Mrs.  Codrington  in  London ;  his 
uncouth  politeness  and  sea-dog  ways  rather  em- 
barrassing the  good  lady  sometimes,  it  would 
appear.    According  to  the  "  Hampshire  Telegraph," 


HOW  COLLINGWOOD  DEALT  WITH  PRISONERS    379 

also,  "Admiral  Villeneuve  and  Captain  Magendie 
were  witnesses  of  Lord  Nelson's  funeral,  having 
received  permission  to  be  present." 

Within  a  week  of  the  "Euryalus"  reaching 
England  the  ships  sent  home  by  CoUingwood  for 
repairs  began  to  arrive.  Each  brought  on  board 
from  150  to  300  prisoners.  All  of  these,  practic- 
ally, were  Frenchmen.  The  Spanish  prisoners 
with  very  few  exceptions  had  been  put  ashore  at 
Gibraltar,  under  the  terms  of  the  convention  con- 
cluded between  CoUingwood  and  the  authorities 
at  Cadiz  in  the  week  following  the  battle.  Colhng- 
wood  expressed  himself  desirous  of  dealing  with 
his  French  captives  in  the  same  way — of  landing 
them  also  in  Spain,  on  condition  that  they  should 
not  serve  afloat  again  until  regularly  exchanged 
against  a  similar  number  of  British  prisoners,  then 
in  captivity,  or  who  might  be  taken  later  on ; — but 
Admiral  Rosily  (who  reached  Cadiz  on  the  25th  of 
October,  as  has  been  said)  had  no  power  to  accede 
to  any  arrangement  of  the  sort.  So  CoUingwood 
had  to  send  all  his  French  prisoners  to  England, 
except  some  of  the  wounded.  These,  to  save  them 
from  the  sufferings  of  the  voyage,  were  landed 
with  the  Spaniards  or  sent  on  board  the  hospital 
hulk  in  Gibraltar  Bay.  During  November,  accord- 
ing to  the  official  receipt  given  by  the  Spanish 
Agent  for  prisoners,  210  officers  and  4,589  seamen 
and  soldiers  were  released  from  on  board  the 
British   Fleet.    The  officers  were  thus  classified : 


380  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

1  Rear- Admiral ;  1  Commodore ;  6  Senior  Cap- 
tains ;  2  Junior  Captains  ;  200  other  Naval  and 
Military  Officers. 

In  addition  to  these,  there  had  been  landed  at 
Cadiz  1,087  wounded  Spaniards  of  all  ranks,  and 
253  French  officers  and  men  ;  who  were  exchanged 
for  British  officers  and  men  of  the  prize  crews 
made  prisoners  on  the  recapture  of  the  "Santa 
Ana "  and  the  "  Alge9iras  "  and  "  Neptuno,"  or 
rescued  off  the  "  Bucentaure  "  and  wrecked  prizes 
on  the  coast. 

The  general  relations  between  the  British  garri- 
son at  Gibraltar  and  the  Spaniards  on  the  main- 
land, it  may  be  remarked  in  passing,  were  at 
this  time  rather  anomalous.  The  two  nations 
were  at  open  war,  and  a  land  blockade  of  Gib- 
raltar had  been  formally  estabhshed ;  with  a  camp 
of  from  twelve  thousand  to  fifteen  thousand 
Spanish  troops — Walloon  guards,  infantry,  and 
artillery — facing  the  Rock,  just  beyond  gunshot 
of  the  Gibraltar  batteries.  Yet  personal  courtesies 
constantly  passed,  and  a  modus  vivendi  had  been 
established  between  the  officers  on  both  sides, 
enabling  them  to  meet  and  fraternize  cordially 
from  time  to  time.  "  Although  Great  Britain  and 
Spain  were  at  war,  and  the  Spanish  Fleet  was 
co-operating  with  that  of  France  against  Nelson 
and  CoUingwood,  there  was  much  cordiality  be- 
tween the   British   officers  at  Gibraltar  and   the 


AT   GIBRALTAR  381 

Spaniards  at  Alge9iras  and  San  Roque,  and  friendly 
visits  were  frequently  exchanged,  it  being  a 
common  thing,  after  an  attack  by  the  Spaniards 
on  British  vessels  entering  or  leaving  Gibraltar,  for 
the  opposing  officers  to  meet  at  dinner  at  the  table 
of  either  the  British  or  Spanish  general.  The 
friendliness  of  the  Spaniards  went  to  the  extent  of 
permitting  the  formation  of  a  race-course  outside 
the  fortress,  which  was  a  great  boon  to  the 
garrison."  ^ 

Captain  Codrington,  of  the  Trafalgar  "  Orion," 
in  one  of  his  letters  home  a  little  time  after  the 
battle,  describes  a  dinner-party  at  Gibraltar,  given 
by  the  Governor  to  General  Castanos,  the  Spanish 
Governor  of  Alge^iras;  at  the  close  of  which 
General  Castanos,  when  shaking  hands  with  him, 
offered  to  send  him,  with  the  greatest  pleasure,  any 
dehcacies  he  might  fancy  that  Alge^iras  afforded. 
"  It  is  hardly  to  be  believed,"  Codrington  goes  on, 
"that  this  intercourse,  which  certainly  deserves 
the  name  of  friendly,  should  not  interfere  with  the 
hostile  operations  to  which  this  place  is  more  par- 
ticularly subject.  Whilst  the  Governor  of  Alge- 
ziras  (old  Gibraltar)  is  dining  with  the  Governor 
of  the  Rock  (new  Gibraltar),  or  whilst  the 
Governor  of  the  Rock,  with  one-half  of  the  officers 
and  many  of  the  private  soldiers,  is  at  a  horse  race 
in  Spain,  the  Algeziras  gunboats  are  making  an 

^  "History  of  the  67th  Regiment/'  Captain  H.  H.  Woolwright, 
p.  142. 


382  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

attack  on  a  convoy  coming  in  with  supplies  for 
the  garrison.  I  was  actually,  when  last  here, 
standing  with  one  of  General  Fox's  aides-de-camp 
in  the  Spanish  lines  observing  the  Spanish  fire  at 
the  *  Beagle'  sloop  of  war  which  happened  to 
come  within  range  of  their  shot,  with  the  same 
apparent  indifference  as  would  have  attended  me 
on  seeing  them  attack  a  nation  hostile  to  Eng- 
land." 

The  French  Trafalgar  prisoners,  for  their  part, 
both  officers  and  men,  with  a  few  Spaniards  de- 
tained for  special  reasons,  were  all  conveyed  to 
England  in  batches;  on  board  the  ships  of  the 
British  Fleet  ordered  into  port  for  repairs.  These 
numbered  sixteen  altogether,  and  they  took  their 
prisoners  to  the  dockyard  ports  to  which  each 
ship  belonged,  to  discharge  them  there  into  the 
local  war  prisons,  for  disposal  thence  as  the  Trans- 
port Board,  which  had  charge  of  the  arrange- 
ments for  the  custody  of  prisoners  of  war,  should 
arrange. 

This  is  how  the  French  Trafalgar  officers  fared 
in  England  as  prisoners  of  war.  On  the  arrival  of 
the  ships  of  the  Trafalgar  fleet,  the  officers'  paroles 
were  taken  and  they  were  sent  off  to  their  ap- 
pointed places  of  residence ;  to  reside  there  at  large, 
until  their  regular  exchanges  might  be  effected 
with  the  French  Government.  There  was  between 
the  combatant  powers  a  regular  tariff  for  the  ex- 


WHAT  WAS  DONE  WITH  CAPTURED  OFFICERS     383 

change  of  naval  officers.  Officers  might  be  either 
exchanged  direct,  rank  for  rank,  against  the  corre- 
sponding grades  in  the  enemy's  service,  or  as  a 
set-ofF  to  the  release  of  a  certain  number  of  lower 
ratings.  Midshipmen  were  reckoned  each  as  the 
equivalent  of  three  seamen ;  junior  lieutenants  of 
four ;  senior  lieutenants  of  six ;  commanders  and 
masters  of  eight  seamen ;  captains  as  a  fair  ex- 
change for  fifteen ;  rear-admirals  for  thirty ;  vice- 
admirals  for  forty  ;  an  admiral  commander-in-chief 
was  counted  as  worth  sixty  men.  In  practice, 
however,  few  exchanges  were  effected,  owing  to 
Napoleon's  persistent  refusal,  except  in  a  few 
isolated  cases,  to  assent  to  any  exchanges  what- 
ever. It  meant  for  most  of  the  unfortunate 
Trafalgar  prisoners,  for  both  officers  and  men, 
detention  in  Great  Britain  until  the  end  of  the 
war.^ 

On  giving  their  parole  not  to  attempt  escape, 
the  officers  were  mostly  interned  in  small  country 
towns  throughout  the  south  of  England  and  the 
Midlands.  There  they  lived  in  lodgings  and  passed 
the  time  as  they  liked,  under  certain  restrictions ; 
receiving  a  pittance  by  way  of  allowance  from  the 
British  Government.     They  might  walk  for  one 

1  In  the  eleven  years  between  1803  and  1814  some  122^000  French 
prisoners  were  brought  to  England.  Of  these^  not  more  than  18  per 
cent  were  paroled  ;  about  10  per  cent  died  in  captivity.  The  rest 
remained  in  British  hands  until  the  peace,  the  cost  of  their  mainten- 
ance and  the  officers'  allowances  being  recovered  from  France  as  part 
of  the  war  indemnity. 


384  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

mile  outside  their  place  of  internment,  but  no 
farther ;  and  they  must  keep  to  the  turnpike  roads. 
Walking  in  lanes,  or  on  cross-roads,  was  prohibited ; 
and  they  had  ordinarily  to  be  in  their  lodgings 
at  sunset.  In  most  places  the  townsfolk  were  well 
disposed  towards  the  unfortunate  strangers,  and 
the  local  gentry  as  a  rule  showed  them  every 
courtesy  and  hospitality.  The  enforcement  of 
penalties  for  any  breaches  of  the  regulations,  by 
fine,  or  in  extreme  cases  by  deportation  in  custody 
to  the  nearest  war  prison,  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
local  justices.  Breach  of  parole  by  attempting 
escape  meant  arrest  and  being  sent  to  the  war 
prison ;  to  be  there  confined  under  sentry  among 
the  ordinary  prisoners.  Among  the  "cantonments" 
or  "depots,"  as  the  terms  went,  at  which  the 
French  Trafalgar  officers  found  themselves  in- 
terned, were,  for  those  landed  at  Portsmouth: 
Bishop's  Waltham  (where  there  were  nearly  two 
hundred  accommodated),  Alresford,  Whitchurch, 
Odiham,  Winchester,  Andover,  and  Reading. 
Tavistock,  Tiverton  (where  there  were  a  hundred 
and  twenty),  Ashburton,  Okehampton,  were  the 
chief  depots  for  officers  landed  at  Plymouth.  Of 
the  officers  landed  at  Chatham,  a  few  were  quar- 
tered at  Maidstone  and  Canterbury,  but  most  were 
sent  into  the  Midlands.  There  were  depots  at 
Chesterfield,  Wisbech,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch,  Lich- 
field, Derby,  Ashbourne,  Leek,  and  elsewhere. 
Some,  indeed,  were  sent  as  far  north  as  to  Edin- 


PRISONERS  OF  WAR  AT  PORTSMOUTH       385 

burgh    Castle,    Valleyfield,    near    Peebles,    and 
Perth.^ 

The  French  seamen  and  soldiers  taken  at  Trafal- 
gar were  lodged,  as  they  were  delivered  in  port, 
either  in  the  local  war  prisons,  or  on  board  the 
hulks  in  harbour  allotted  for  their  reception. 

At  Portsmouth,  during  the  first  ten  days  of 
December,  the  "  Temeraire "  and  the  "  Mars," 
"  Colossus,"  "  Tonnant,"  "  Defiance,"  and  "  Sparti- 
ate"  discharged  large  contingents  of  prisoners. 
They  were  divided  between  Porchester  Castle,  the 
principal  place  of  confinement,  and  able  to  accom- 
modate altogether  8,000  men ;  and  Forton  Prison, 
close  to  Gosport,  with  quarters  for  4,000 ;  and  in 
the  hulks,  seven  old  men-of-war,  moored  head  and 

*  Here  is  a  "Gazette''  notice  in  connexion  with  an  escape  by 
French  officers,  three  of  whom  were  at  Trafalgar. 

TRANSPORT-OFFICE,  March  24,  1806. 

WHEREAS  the  five  French  Prisoners  of  War,  named  and  de- 
scribed at  foot  hereof,  have  broken  their  -parole,  and  absconded 
from  the  Towns  of  Thame  in  Oxfordshire,  and  Odiham  in  Hampshire. 
The  Commissioners  for  conducting  his  Majesty's  Transport  Service, 
£0.,  do  hereby  give  notice,  that  any  person  or  persons,  who  shall 
apprehend  the  said  prisoners  or  either  of  them,  and  deliver  them  oi- 
him  at  this  Office,  or  otherwise  cause  them  to  be  properly  secured  in 
any  of  the  Public  Gaols,  shall  receive  for  each  Prisoner,  a  REWARD 
of  TEN  GUINEAS.  A  further  Reward  of  TEN  GUINEAS  will 
be  paid  to  any  person  giving  svxih  Information  as  may  be  the  means 
of  convicting  any  British  Subject  of  aiding  the  said  Prisoners  of  War, 
or  either  of  them,  in  effecting  their  escape. 

FROM  THAME. 

VICTOR  SERAIN,  Enseigne  de  Vaisseau,  26  years  of  age,  5  feet 
5  inches  high,  sUght  person,  long  visage,  swarthy  complexion ;  dark 
brown  hair,  grey  eyes,  scar  on  his  right  eye. 

ALEXANDER  PERRAULT,  Enseigne  de  Vaisseau,  20  years  of 
age,  5  ft.  6  in.  high,  slight  person,  long  visage,  fair  complexion, 
light  brown  hair,  hazle  eyes,  ears  pierced. 

J.  F.  PELLETT,  Second  Lieutenant  of  the  Wimereux  French 
Privateer,  31  years  of  age,  5  ft.  6  in.  high,  stout  person,  round 
visage,  fair  complexion,  light  brown  hair,  blue  eyes,  ears  pierced. 

LE  BOLLOCHE,  Enseigne  de  Vaisseau,  23  years  of 

age,  5  ft.  7^  in.  high,  slight  person,  oval  visage,  fair  complexion, 
dark  brown  hair,  hazle  eyes,  cut  with  a  sword  on  the  right  leg, 
marked  with  the  small-pox. 

FROM  ODIHAM. 

LOUIS  DE  BEAUSSET,  Lieutenant  in  the  Army,  32  years  of 
age,  5  ft.  5J  in.  high,  slight  person,  oval  visage,  dark  complexion, 
brown  hair,  hazle  eyes,  marked  with  the  small-pox  slightly. 

2    C 


386  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

stem  in  Porchester  Lake,  each  fitted  to  receive 
from  700  to  800  prisoners.^ 

The  men  from  Trafalgar  were  distributed  among 
the  mass  of  other  prisoners  already  under  de- 
tention at  Portsmouth  : —  French  soldiers  from 
San  Domingo ;  French,  Spanish,  and  Dutch  men- 
of-war's  men  taken  in  half  a  hundred  frigate 
actions  all  the  world  over;  privateersmen  and 
coaster  crews  by  the  hundred — who  in  1805 
furnished  the  bulk  of  the  occupants  of  British 
war  prisons  throughout  the  country.  They  were 
divided  up  in  batches ;  so  many  to  Porchester,  so 
many  to  Forton,  so  many  to  each  hulk ;  to  keep 
shipmates  apart  and  prevent  plottings  that  might 
be  dangerous. 

A  peculiarly  vivid  picture  is  in  existence — over- 
drawn in  certain  particulars  and  too  highly  coloured 
here  and  there  it  may  be,  yet  in  the  main  faithful 
and  correct — of  prison-ship  life  at  Portsmouth  at 
the  time  that  the  Trafalgar  prisoners  were  there, 
set  forth  in  Louis  Garneray's  "Mes  Pontons." 
The  author,  a  writer  and  an  artist  of  reputation  in 
later  years,  was  captured  on  board  a  privateer, 
and  kept  in  durance  for  several  years  at  Ports- 
mouth and  Bishop's  Waltham.     He  and  his  ship- 

^  By  the  irony  of  fate  for  some  of  the  unfortunates  landed  at 
Portsmouth,  two  of  the  seven  hulks  there,  on  hoard  which  some  of  the 
Trafalgar  prisoners  were  lodged,  were  formerly  French  men-of-war, 
and  hore,  lettered  on  their  sterns,  their  original  names — ''  Le  Pegase  " 
and  "  Le  Prothee.'*  One  of  the  seven,  also,  was  a  captured  Spanish  war- 
ship, the  "San  Damaso." 


"MES   PONTONS"  387 

mates  were  placed  on  board  the  "Prothee"  in 
Porchester  Lake. 

The  sombre,  forbidding,  black  mass  of  the  hulk 
as  they  approached,  says  Garneray,  looked,  at  a 
little  distance,  like  "an  immense  sarcophagus."  "Ce 
sombre  tombeau"  he  calls  it  also.  Entering  on 
board  between  a  double  file  of  soldiers,  the  new- 
comers were  abruptly  hustled  below,  among  the 
former  arrivals,  who  seemed  "like  the  dead  just 
out  of  their  graves  " ;  hollow-eyed,  with  pale  and 
haggard  faces,  bowed  backs,  dishevelled,  and  with 
ragged,  unkempt  beards,  dressed  in  scanty  yellow 
garments,  emaciated  and  feeble-looking.  He  him- 
self was  at  once  taken  charge  of  by  two  of  the 
guards,  stripped  and  made  to  take  a  chilly  bath. 
Then  he  had  to  put  on  the  same  garb  as  the 
others ;  a  coarse  shirt,  and  orange-yellow  vest  and 
breeches,  both  too  small  for  him,  and  stamped  in 
immense  black  letters  "  T.O."  (Transport  Office). 
Next  the  prisoners'  names  and  descriptions  were 
taken,  and  their  quarters  on  board  apportioned 
them. 

The  seven  to  eight  hundred  prisoners  on  board 
were  allowed  on  deck  during  the  daytime  in  the 
waist,  says  Garneray;  the  space  at  their  disposal 
being  44  ft.  by  38  ft.  "  The  Park  "  was  the  name 
that  the  prisoners,  with  sardonic  humour,  gave  to 
their  airing  place.  They  might  use  a  small  space 
on  the  forecastle  also,  but  the  galley  funnels 
opened  there,  and  it  was  practically  impossible  to 


388  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

avoid  the  smoke.  At  night  all  were  locked  up  in 
two  divisions  of  between  three  and  four  hundred 
men  each,  on  the  lower  and  main  decks ;  the  space 
available  for  each  division  being  120  ft.  long,  40  ft. 
wide,  and  6  ft.  high.  They  had  to  pack  so  close 
that  the  hammocks  were  hung  in  two  tiers,  with 
only  a  few  inches  between  the  upper  and  lower 
tiers.  Some  men  slept  on  the  deck,  as  a  third  row. 
The  heat  and  stench,  describes  Gameray,  were 
indescribable  ;  almost  insupportable.  They  had  to 
strip  to  sleep.  The  candles  in  the  lanterns  often 
went  out  for  want  of  oxygen.  The  British  officers, 
the  naval  lieutenant  in  charge,  master,  and  the 
warrant  officers,  with  the  lieutenant  in  command 
of  the  fifty  soldiers  on  board,  and  servants,  with 
the  main-guard  on  duty  for  the  day,  were  quar- 
tered aft.  The  remainder  of  the  soldiers,  with 
the  twenty-five  seamen  and  ship's  boys  forming 
the  crew  of  the  hulk,  lived  forward.  Their  quar- 
ters were  stoutly  barricaded  off  by  bulkheads 
studded  with  huge  iron  nails ;  loopholes  being  cut 
in  the  bulkheads  for  musketry,  and  ports  for  a 
couple  of  guns,  which  were  kept  pointed  to  sweep 
the  decks  with  case  shot  in  case  of  trouble. 
Sentries  were  on  duty  on  board  by  day  at  all 
points,  and  during  the  night  the  prisoners  were 
constantly  visited  by  rounds  and  kept  under  con- 
tinuous supervision.  The  hulk  was  carefully  ex- 
amined every  evening  against  attempts  to  break 
out,   and    the    prisoners    paraded    on    deck   and 


THE  FOOD  ON  BOARD  THE  HULKS    389 

counted  one  by  one,   "comme  on    compte    des 
moutons." 

The  food,  undoubtedly,  was  the  great  grievance 
on  board.  In  Garneray's  words:  "C'etait  la  que 
se  developpait  sans  contrainte  la  haine  que  nous 
portaient  les  Anglais."  The  dietary,  he  tells  us, 
was  coarse,  insufficient,  and  repugnant.  One  and 
a  quarter  pounds  of  dark  bread  and  seven  ounces 
of  "cow  beef"  was  each  man's  ration;  with  a 
modicum  of  barley  and  onions  for  soup  for  each 
mess  of  four.  Once  a  week  the  issue  was  a  pound 
of  red  herring  with  a  pound  of  potatoes ;  on 
another  day,  salt  cod  in  lieu  of  herring.  Poor  as 
the  allowance  was,  the  rogues  of  contractors  who 
victualled  the  hulks  often  gave  short  weight,  or 
sent  on  board  uneatable  stuff.  The  herrings, 
indeed,  describes  Garneray,  were  often  sold  back 
to  the  contractor  at  a  nominal  price,  to  re- 
appear again  as  another  day's  ration.  The  very 
same  herrings,  he  declares,  did  duty  for  eight  years  I 
The  salt  cod  could  be  eaten,  he  says ;  but  the  bread 
was  like  lead,  and  was  constantly  of  short  weight. 
A  complaint  meant  going  without  anything  until 
the  evening,  when  the  officer  of  the  day  heard 
complaints.  The  drinking  water  was  brought  along- 
side in  casks  by  small  boats  and  pumped  on  board 
the  hulk  by  the  prisoners  themselves.  Apart 
from  the  stories,  authentic  in  some  cases,  of  the 
dogs  of  British  officers  paying  a  call  on  board, 
being  decoyed  below,  killed,  and  turned  into  cut- 


390  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

lets,  while  their  late  masters  were  talking  aft,  it 
is  the  fact  that  the  rats  in  the  hold  were  as  a 
regular  thing  fished  for  with  hooks  baited  with 
bits  of  beef,  and  caught  and  cooked  and  eagerly 
devoured.  Gambling  was  a  favourite  means  of 
passing  the  time ;  the  usual  stakes  being  the  poor 
wretches'  rations.  One  man  at  Porchester,  it  is  on 
record,  lost  his  rations  for  eight  days  running  and 
died  of  starvation. 

It  was  in  the  land  prisons,  for  the  most  part, 
that  the  captives  had  space  and  opportunities  for 
turning  out  the  knick-knacks  and  fancy  ornaments 
that  one  sometimes  nowadays  comes  across  in 
museums  and  private  collections,  carved  out  of 
beef-bones  and  plaited  with  the  straw  from  their 
mattresses — chess-men,  ship-models,  filigree  boxes, 
and  so  forth — by  means  of  which  they  were  able 
to  make  a  little  money  for  extra  "luxuries"  to 
their  rations,  out  of  the  sightseers  who  were 
allowed  within  the  precincts  on  certain  days. 

At  Chatham  the  prisoners  were  brought  in  by 
the  "Victory,"  "Defence,"  "Leviathan,"  "Con- 
queror," and  "  Revenge  " ;  each  of  which,  on  enter- 
ing the  Medway,  sent  her  contingent  directly  on 
board  the  four  hulks  which  constituted  the  local 
war  prison.  Of  these,  the  biggest  hulk  was  an  old 
three-decker,  the  "Sandwich,"  fitted  to  take  on 
board  upwards  of  twelve  hundred  men.  The 
others    were    three    obsolete    seventy-fours,    the 


AMID   THE   MARSHES   OF  THE   MEDWAY     391 

"  Buckingham,"  "  Bristol,"  and  "  Rochester." '  The 
Medway  establishment  was  reckoned  capable  of 
taking  between  three  and  four  thousand  prisoners 
in  all.  As  in  due  course  fresh  prisoners  came  to 
hand,  earlier  arrivals  were  sent  round  by  sea  to 
Yarmouth,  to  be  thence  marched  inland  to  the 
central  depots  at  Weedon  in  Northamptonshire,^ 
and  Norman  Cross,  near  Yaxley,  in  Huntingdon- 
shire, this  last  a  huge  establishment  covering  forty 
acres  of  ground,  where  six  thousand  prisoners  in 
all  were  confined  under  a  strong  guard  of  yeo- 
manry and  two  regiments  of  militia.  Thither  in 
due  course  many  of  the  Trafalgar  prisoners 
found  their  way.  Of  those  who  remained,  many 
died  on  board  the  Medway  hulks.  They  were 
buried  in  the  marshes  beside  St.  Mary's  Creek, 
opposite  Gillingham,  in  a  strip  of  ground,  out  of 
the  way  and  forgotten  until  a  few  years  ago,  when, 
during  some  excavations  in  connexion  with  Chat- 
ham Dockyard,  their  bones  were  unearthed.  The 
remains  were  reverently  collected  and  reinterred, 
in  the  presence  of  the  French  naval  attache  in 
England,  within  a  railed-in  enclosure  two  hundred 
feet  square,  laid  out  with  flower-beds,  shrubs,  and 
gravel  paths.    In  the  centre  the  Admiralty  had 

^  To  these  during  1806  were  added  two  of  the  four  prizes  made  at 
Trafalgar  which  survived  the  storm — the  "  Bahama  "  and  the  French 
'*  Swiftsure  "  (renamed  hy  us  the  '^  Irresistible '').  They  were  both 
made  prison  hulks  of,  and  the  Chatham  establishment  was  enlarged  up 
to  5,000  men. 

2  The  remains  of  Weedon  Prison  were  only  destroyed  three  or  four 
years  ago. 


392  THE  ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

a  memorial  of  stone  erected ;  comprising,  on  a  raised 
pedestal,  a  finely  carved  female  figure  in  armour, 
cloaked  and  holding  in  her  hand  an  inverted  torch, 
the  figure  being  surmounted  by  a  canopy  of  stone, 
also  fittingly  carved  and  decorated.  A  granite 
panel  was  placed  on  one  face  of  the  pedestal  with 
this  inscription  in  gilt  letters : — 

Here  are  gathered  together 

The  remains  of  many  brave  soldiers  and  sailors 

Who  having  once  been  the  foes  and  afterwards 

The  captives  of  England^ 

Now  find  rest  in  her  soil. 

Remembering  no  more  the  animosities  of  war,  or 

The  sorrows  of  imprisonment. 

They  were  deprived  of  the  consolation  of  closing 

Their  eyes 

Among  the  countrymen  they  loved. 

But  they  have  been  laid  in  an  honoured  grave 

By  a  nation  which  knows  how  to  respect  valour 

And  to  sympathise  with  misfortune. 

Recently,  owing  to  further  dockyard  extensions, 
the  remains,  as  well  as  the  memorial,  have  been 
moved  to  a  selected  space  in  front  of  the  Royal 
Naval  Barracks  at  Chatham. 

The  "Royal  Sovereign,""  Belleisle,"and  "Bellero- 
phon,"  with  the  "Conqueror"  and  "Achille," 
landed  their  contingents  of  Trafalgar  prisoners 
at  Plymouth,  to  be  distributed  between  the  old 
Mill  Bay  Prison,  where  there  were  kept  ordinarily 
from  from  four  to  five  thousand  prisoners,  and 
among   the   eight  hulks  then   in  the   Hamoaze. 


»»'.»»     » » 


Hoppey  Turner] 

PRISON   HULKS   AT    PORTSMOUTH    IN    1806 

[The  original  painting  was  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Naval  Exhibition  at  Chelsea,  in  1891, 
by  5lessrs.  E.  and  E.  Emanuel,  Portsea,  by  whose  kind  permission  it  is  here  repro- 
duced] 


DARTMOOR    WAR    I'KISON    C.ATEWAV 


To  face  p.  392 


MANY   SENT  TO   DARTMOOR  393 

A  large  number  of  the  Plymouth  prisoners,  and 
the  Trafalgar  captives  among  them,  were  later 
transferred  to  Dartmoor  War  Prison.  Mill  Bay- 
Prison  was  closed  not  long  afterwards,  and  the  rest 
of  the  prisoners  on  shore  at  Plymouth  were  dis- 
tributed between  Stapleton  Prison,  near  Bristol, 
where  normally  5,000  were  detained,  and  Norman 
Cross.  ^ 

Very  little  is  on  record  of  the  life  in  England 
of  the  Trafalgar  prisoners.  Napoleon  had  his 
reasons  for  keeping  most  of  them  where  they 
were.  Beyond  some  half-dozen  officers,  not  a  single 
one  apparently  was  granted  an  exchange,  and  they 
had  to  endure  their  lot  to  the  end,  until  the  peace 
of  1814.  The  officers,  sick  at  heart  with  hope 
deferred,  their  careers  cut  short,  their  prospects  of 

^  A  few  years  ago  the  remains  of  a  number  of  French  prisoners  were 
disinterred  during  some  digging  operations  in  Athenaeum  Street^  Ply- 
mouth. They  were  buried  with  befitting  marks  of  respect  in  Ply- 
mouth Cemetery.  At  Dartmoor,  some  little  time  after  the  present 
convict  establishment  was  inaugurated  there,  one  of  the  governors  of 
the  prison  had  the  old,  neglected  resting-place  of  the  deceased 
prisoners  of  war  attended  to,  and  the  remains  there  properly  reinterred 
and  memorials  erected ;  one  to  Frenchmen  and  one  to  the  American 
prisoners  (taken  in  the  war  of  1812)  who  were  also  quartered  at  Dart- 
moor. The  inscription  in  each  case  runs  :  '*  In  memory  of  the  French  " 
(or  "  American '')  ''  prisoners  of  war  who  died  in  Dartmoor  prison  be- 
tween the  years  1809  and  1814,  and  are  buried  here.  'Dulce  et 
decorum  est  pro  patria  mori."'  The  outer  gateway  of  the  modem 
penal  establishment  stands  to  this  day  as  a  memorial  of  the  time  when 
the  great  place  of  confinement  held  worthier  inmates.  It  is  an  arch- 
way composed  of  five  huge  granite  slabs,  on  the  topmost  of  which, 
deeply  incised,  is  the  legend — impressive,  no  doubt,  but  poor  enough 
in  its  consolation  to  those  compelled  to  pass  inside — ^'Parcere 
subjectis." 


394  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

promotion  blighted,  separated  from  friends  and 
home,  without  hearing  a  word  from  one  year's  end 
to  another,  strangers  in  a  strange  land,  had  to  drag 
out  their  monotonous  existence  as  best  they  could, 
amid  the  dull  surroundings  of  the  English  country 
towns  in  which  they  were  interned.  For  the  men 
it  meant  nine  interminable  years  of  caged  exist- 
ence :  behind  the  sentry-watched  palisades  of 
Forton,  or  herded  together  within  the  keep  of 
Porchester,  with  dreary  mud-flats  on  three  sides, 
and  the  bald,  featureless  mass  of  Portsdown  at  the 
back ;  cramped  up  in  overcrowded  hulks  amid  the 
desolate  marshes  of  the  Medway ;  or  chilled  to  the 
marrow  for  nine  months  of  the  year  in  "  Siberian 
exile  "  (as  Napoleon  termed  it)  on  the  wind-swept 
uplands  of  Dartmoor ;  or  in  the  little  less  cheerless 
barrack  gaols  of  Stapleton  and  Weedon,  or  bleak 
and  barren  Norman  Cross. 

There  remains  but  one  thing  more  to  close  the 
account.  The  enemy's  story  of  Trafalgar  ends 
with  the  passing  bell  for  Admiral  Villeneuve. 

Admiral  Villeneuve  was  released  in  April,  1806, 
after  a  little  more  than  five  months'  captivity, 
counting  from  the  date  of  his  surrender;  in  ex- 
change for  four  British  post-captains,  according  to 
the  regulation  rate  of  exchange.  His  departure 
was  made  very  quietly,  and  was  unnoticed.  Accom- 
panied only  by  his  servant,  he  left  Reading  for 
the  Sussex   coast  and   crossed   in  a  small  boat, 


ADMIRAL  VILLENEUVE  ARRIVES  AT   RENNES     395 

which  landed  him  at  Morlaix  in  Brittany.  From 
Morlaix  Villeneuve  wrote  to  the  Minister  of 
Marine,  reporting  his  arrival  in  France,  and  asking 
for  instructions.  He  would  await  Decres'  reply, 
he  said,  at  Kennes ;  and  proposed  after  that  to 
proceed  to  Paris,  where  he  trusted  he  would  have 
an  opportunity  of  personally  making  an  official 
statement  to  His  Imperial  Majesty. 

Villeneuve  then  went  on  to  Rennes  and  put  up 
at  the  Hotel  de  la  Patrie  until  the  courier  from 
the  Ministry  of  Marine  should  arrive.  From  a 
newspaper  he  learned  that  Captains  Lucas  and 
Infernet,  who  had  been  exchanged  a  few  weeks 
previously,  had  both  been  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
rear-admiral,  and  were  to  be  received  in  audience 
by  the  Emperor  at  St.  Cloud.  He  wrote  to 
Lucas  at  once,  congratulating  him  heartily,  and 
sending  his  compliments  to  Infernet.  Then  he 
added  a  request  of  his  own  in  regard  to  his  inten- 
tions. He  had  before  him,  said  Admiral  Ville- 
neuve, the  painful  duty  of  naming  those  whose 
conduct  at  Trafalgar  had  nullified  his  plans  and  led 
to  the  destruction  of  the  fleet  and  the  humiUation 
of  the  national  flag.  His  own  personal  justification, 
the  highest  interests  of  the  service,  the  honour  of 
France  and  of  the  Imperial  Navy  in  particular, 
required  imperatively  that  he  should  insist  on  a 
full  inquiry  and  punishments.  He  proposed  to  call 
on  him  (Captain  Lucas),  as  a  witness  before  the 
Court  of   Inquiry,  and  he  earnestly  hoped  that 


396  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

Lucas  would  be  able  to  remain  a  few  days  longer 
in  Paris,  so  that  he  might  meet  him  there.  That 
letter,  the  authenticity  of  which  there  is  no  reason 
to  doubt,  shows  at  least  the  frame  of  mind  in  which 
Villeneuve  was  when  he  arrived  at  Rennes.  His 
mood,  however,  would  seem  to  have  changed  within 
a  day  or  two. 

No  reply  came  from  Decres  ;  and,  surprised  and 
anxious  at  the  Minister  of  Marine's  ominous 
silence,  Admiral  Villeneuve  passed  into  a  state 
of  nervous  depression  that  culminated  in  deep 
dejection.  Decres,  it  has  been  said,  purposely 
deferred  his  answer,  for  reasons  of  his  own ;  being 
unwiUing  also  to  compromise  his  own  position  with 
the  Emperor.  Villeneuve's  case,  he  reasoned,  in 
Napoleon's  present  mood  towards  the  unfortunate 
admiral,  was  hopeless.  No  letter  from  the  Minister 
of  Marine  had  arrived  at  Rennes  by  the  evening 
of  the  21st  of  April. 

Next  morning  the  hapless  French  admiral  was 
found  dead  in  bed,  with  six  stabs  in  his  chest. 

What  took  place  in  the  death-chamber,  in  what 
circumstances  Admiral  Villeneuve  came  by  his 
end,  has  never  been  made  exactly  clear.  An  ugly 
rumour  of  foul  play  got  about  soon  after  the  news 
of  his  death  was  made  pubhc.  According  to  the 
story  which  had  a  wide  vogue  all  over  the  Con- 
tinent and  in  England,  it  was  a  case  of  midnight 
murder,  to  serve  Napoleon's  purposes  and  prevent 


THE   POLICE   HOLD  AN   INQUIRY  397 

disclosures  as  to  the  true  state  of  the  fleet  sent 
to  its  doom  at  Trafalgar.  An  elaborate  tale  went 
the  round,  of  mysterious  strangers  arriving  at  the 
Hotel  de  la  Patrie  late  on  the  evening  of  the 
21st  and  disappearing  before  next  morning.  They 
were  in  civilian  clothes,  but  for  all  that  were 
really  gendarmes,  charged  with  special  instruc- 
tions from  Barrere,  Prefect  of  the  Secret  Police  of 
St.  Cloud.  The  body,  said  the  account,  was  found 
stabbed  to  the  heart  and  lying  face  downwards  on 
the  bed ;  resting  on  the  handle  of  the  knife  with 
which  the  deed  was  done  :  in  an  impossible  position 
except  in  a  case  of  murder/  In  Paris  the  mot, 
which  first  went  the  round  on  the  occasion  of  the 
death  of  Pichegru,  was  heard  again:  "How  un- 
fortunate Napoleon  really  is :  all  his  enemies  die  of 
their  own  accord  ! "  As  far  as  is  known,  however, 
it  actually  was  a  case  of  suicide. 

The  circumstances  of  the  affair  were  investigated 
on  the  day  after  the  discovery  by  M.  Mounier,  the 
Prefect  of  the  Department  of  He  et  Vilaine,  an 
official  of  integrity  and  reputation,  assisted  by 
Colonel  of  Artillery  Camas  and  two  juges  de 
paix.  The  post-mortem,  held  that  forenoon,  was 
conducted  by  three  medical  men.  The  proces- 
verbal  drawn  up  by  the  head  of  the  Rennes  police, 

*  Later  a  report  even  got  about  in  the  French  Navy  that  Captain 
Magendie  himself  assassinated  the  admiral  at  Decres'  instigation.  It 
was  circulated  so  widely  that  in  1814  Magendie  thought  it  advisable 
to  publish  a  '^  Memoire  "  in  self-defence.  {"  Victoires  et  Conquetes^" 
vi.  p.  193.) 


398  THE  ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

went  to  show  that  the  admiral  was  found  dead, 
undressed,  and  lying  on  the  bed  on  his  back. 
There  were  five  wounds  in  the  chest,  and  a  sixth 
with  a  knife  sticking  in  it,  driven  home  to  the 
hilt.  It  was  an  ordinary  table-knife,  which  the 
admiral  might  have  kept  back  after  his  supper. 
The  room  door  was  locked,  and  the  key  was  on 
the  inside.  Villeneuve's  servant  was  examined, 
and  stated  that  his  master  had  appeared  strange  in 
his  manner  for  two  or  three  days  previously.  So 
much  so,  indeed,  that  he,  the  servant,  had  thought 
it  advisable  to  draw  the  charges  from  his  pistols. 
How  the  admiral  had  secreted  the  knife  the 
servant  could  not  explain.  He  hazarded  the  con- 
jecture, from  something  his  master  had  said,  that 
he  had  applied  for  an  audience  of  the  Emperor  and 
been  refused. 

The  proces-verbal  proceeded  to  state  that  on  the 
table  in  the  room  was  found  a  letter  addressed  to 
Madame  Villeneuve,  the  admiral's  wife.  Beside 
it  were  some  packets  of  money,  each  with  the  sum 
marked  on  it  in  the  admiral's  handwriting,  and 
the  name  of  the  person  for  whom  it  was  intended. 
In  the  admiral's  baggage  were  found  Villeneuve's 
telescope,  labelled  "A  I'intrdpide  Infernetl";  and 
his  speaking  trumpet,  labelled  "  Pour  toi,  brave 
Lucas  1 " 

The  admiral's  letter  to  his  wife  was  in  the 
following  terms. 


HIS   LAST   LETTER  TO   HIS   WIFE  399 

"  Rennes,  le  21  avril  1806. 

"  A  Madame  Villeneuve,  nee  Dantoine, 
a  Valensole  ( Basses- Alpes). 

"Ma  tendre  amie,  comment  recevras-tu  ce 
coup  ?  Helas,  je  pleure  plus  sur  toi  que  sur  moi. 
C'en  est  fait,  j'en  suis  arrive  au  terme  ou  la  vie 
est  un  opprobre  et  la  mort  un  devoir.  Seul  ici, 
frappe  d'anatheme  par  I'empereur,  repousse  par 
son  ministre,  qui  fut  mon  ami,  charg^  d'une  res- 
ponsabilite  immense  dans  un  desastre  qui  m'est 
attribu^,  et  auquel  la  fatalite  m'a  entraine,  je  dois 
mourir  I  Je  sais  que  tu  ne  peux  gouter  aucune 
apologie  de  mon  action.  Je  t'en  demande  pardon, 
mille  fois  pardon,  mais  elle  est  n^cessaire  et  j'y 
suis  entraine  par  le  plus  violent  d^sespoir.  Vis 
tranquUle,  emprunte  les  consolations  des  doux 
sentiments  de  religion  qui  t'animent;  mon  espe- 
rance  est  que  tu  y  trouveras  un  repos  qui  m'est 
refuse.  Adieu  I  adieu  I  s^che  les  larmes  de  ma 
famille  et  de  tous  ceux  auxquels  je  puis  etre 
cher.  Je  voulais  finir,  je  ne  puis.  Quel  bon- 
heur  que  je  n'aie  aucun  enfant  pour  recueillir 
mon  horrible  heritage  et  qui  soit  charge  au  poids 
de  mon  nom !  Ah  I  je  n'etais  pas  n^  pour  un 
pareil  sort;  je  ne  I'ai  pas  cherche,  j'y  ai  ete 
entraine  malgre  moi.     Adieu !  adieu  ! 

"  Villeneuve." 


400  THE  ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

Prefect  Mounier  and  his  colleagues  in  the  com- 
mission, with  all  the  evidence,  both  police  and 
medical,  before  them,  recorded  as  their  finding, 
"Death  from  self-inflicted  wounds."  They  for- 
warded all  the  documents,  with  the  admiral's 
baggage  and  his  private  papers  and  other  personal 
belongings,  to  Paris  for  the  Minister  of  Police, 
Fouche,  to  arrange  as  to  their  disposition.  The 
body  of  the  ill-fated  admiral  was  buried  at  night, 
without  miUtary  honours  being  rendered. 

Villeneuve's  letter  to  his  wife  was  kept  back  in 
Paris.  The  rest  of  the  papers  found,  and  the 
admiral's  personal  property,  were  handed  over  to 
the  family.  Pouchd,  after  what  he  called  "  a  hasty 
examination,"  forwarded  everything  to  Decres  as 
"  useless  to  the  police  " ;  with  this  proviso :  Most 
of  the  admiral's  private  papers,  he  said,  ought  to 
be  sent  to  Madame  Villeneuve.  He  would,  how- 
ever, for  himself,  draw  the  Minister  of  Marine's  par- 
ticular attention  to  one  letter — that  written  by 
"Rear -Admiral"  Villeneuve  shortly  before  his 
suicide.  It  tended  to  show  his  motives  in  the  act. 
That  letter  should  be  returned  by  Madame  Ville- 
neuve after  perusal ;  or  at  least  an  authenticated 
copy  of  it  should  be  made,  "  afin  de  pouvoir,"  in 
Fouch^'s  own  words,  "sil  y  avait  lieu,  etre  k 
meme  de  d^truire  les  bruits  qu'on  pourrait  essayer 
de  r^pandre  sur  le  genre  de  mort  de  cet  ancien 
general."  Decres  thought  it  best  not  to  forward 
the  letter  at  all.     He  replied  that  he  had  eighteen 


REPUDIATED   BY   THE   FAMILY  401 

other  papers  of  Villeneuve's  which  he  would  add 
to  what  had  been  found,  and,  with  the  exception 
of  the  letter  to  the  widow,  would  hand  all  over  to 
the  family.  As  to  the  letter,  he  said,  Villeneuve's 
brothers  had  learnt  of  the  existence  of  such  a 
document,  and  had  desired  him  to  suppress  it. 
He  proposed  to  have  a  copy  made  and  supplied  to 
M.  Jules  de  Villeneuve,  the  elder  brother,  retaining 
the  original  at  the  Ministry  of  Marine.  The  letter 
remained  a  secret  to  the  world,  outside  the  Ville- 
neuve family — who  with  one  accord  at  the  time 
(as  they  have  done  ever  since),  declined  to  accept 
its  authenticity — until  1828,  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
century  after  Trafalgar.  Then  it  saw  the  light  in 
the  thirty-sixth  volume  of  "Annales  Maritimes," 
an  official  compilation  published  in  Paris  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Ministry  of  Marine. 

An  extraordinary  letter,^  addressed  to  the  Em- 
peror by  Admiral  Villeneuve,  is  said  to  have  been 
found  also  in  the  dead  admiral's  room.  The 
whereabouts  of  the  original  is  unknown.  The  only 
copy  in  existence  was  discovered  a  few  years  ago 
among  the  private  papers  of  Sir  Arthur  Paget, 
who  in  1805  was  British  Envoy  Extraordinary 
and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  the  Court  of 
Vienna,  and  Pitt's  principal  agent  in  effecting  the 
formation  of  the  coalition  against  Napoleon  which 

1  The  letter  is  quoted  in  full  in  the  second  volume  of  "  The  Paget 
Papers/'  pp.  278-82. 
a  D 


402  THE   ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

failed  so  disastrously  at  Austerlitz.  How  it  came 
into  the  ambassador's  possession  is  unknown,  and 
grave  doubt  has  been  cast  on  its  authenticity; 
for  one  thing  in  view  of  the  fact  that  it  bristles 
with  phrases  no  seaman  could  have  used,  while 
others  of  its  expressions  no  Frenchman,  certainly 
no  man  of  Villeneuve's  culture,  could  have  penned. 
The  date  at  the  head  of  the  letter,  "Avril  6,"  is  of 
itself  suspicious.  On  that  day  Villeneuve  was 
crossing  the  Channel.  He  did  not  reach  Rennes 
until  the  afternoon  of  the  17th.  Also  the  signa- 
ture "De"  Villeneuve  is  curious,  as  the  admiral 
had  for  years  discarded  the  particle  nobiliaire. 

If  authentic,  it  disposes,  once  for  all,  of  ques- 
tions as  to  the  admiral's  sanity  and  as  to  whether 
or  not  he  committed  suicide.  It  had  lain  for 
years  among  Sir  Arthur  Paget's  papers,  as  he 
himself  originally  put  it  away.  The  document 
which,  as  found,  was  endorsed  "  Copie  d'une 
lettre  de  I'Amiral  Villeneuve  a  Bonaparte,  ecrite 
la  matinee  de  son  suicide,"  expresses  throughout 
the  most  intense  hatred  for  Napoleon  and  his 
"creatures,"  whose  "incapacity  and  pride"  were 
the  cause  of  the  ruin  of  the  French  Navy.  This 
resum6  will  give  a  fair  idea  of  its  contents : — 

Addressing  the  Emperor  as  "Monsieur,"  the 
letter  opens  by  referring  Napoleon  to  Villeneuve's 
interview  with  Decr^s  at  the  Ministry  of  Marine, 
when  the  command  of  the  fleet  at  Toulon  was 
first   offered    to   him.      He   refused    flatly,   says 


i 


HE  SENT  IN  HIS  RESIGNATION  FIVE  TIMES     403 

the  writer,  to  be  La  Touche  Treville's  successor, 
because  he  felt  convinced  that  only  disaster  awaited 
so  ill-conceived  and  risky  a  venture.  "J'etois 
persuade  alors  que  chaqu  un  qui  dirrigeroit  I'avan- 
turiere  et  mauvaise  expedition  de  la  flotte  unie 
Fran9aise  et  Espagnole,  seroit  battu  honteuse- 
ment,  si  meme  elle  auroit  la  fortune  de  sauver 
sa  vie  d'une  bataille  qui  contre  un  ennemi  lequel 
couvre  toutes  les  Mers  de  ses  batiments  etoit 
inevitable."  These,  the  writer  affirms,  were  his 
actual  words  ("mot  pour  mot  les  paroles  que  j'ai 
dit")  to  the  Minister  of  Marine. 

After  his  first  arrival  at  Cadiz  to  pick  up 
Gravina,  he  goes  on,  he  tendered  his  resignation — 
"J'ai  envoye  avec  ma  premiere  Depeche  ma  pre- 
miere resignation  " — which,  he  also  adds,  he  again 
tendered  on  three  occasions ;  from  Martinique, 
from  Ferrol,  and  once  more  from  Cadiz,  on  being 
ordered  to  return  to  the  Mediterranean.  He 
obeyed  that  order,  but,  before  sailing,  he  once  more 
repeated  to  the  Minister  of  Marine  his  original 
apprehensions  as  to  the  utter  hopelessness  of  the 
move,  and  for  the  fifth  time  expressed  his  wish 
to  be  relieved  of  his  command : — "  Ma  forte  resolu- 
tion de  renoncer  a  un  Poste  perilleux  ou  vain- 
queur  ou  vaincu  auquel  je  serois  incapable  d'etre 
utile." 

Why,  he  then  asks,  were  his  Trafalgar  despatches 
suppressed ;  kept  out  of  the  "  Moniteur,"  while  a 
ready  ear  was  lent  to  those  who  had  anything  to 


404  THE   ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

say  against  him  ?  "  L'infortune  de  Trafalgar,"  he 
says,  "ne  doit  pas  etre  attribuee  a  quelque  faute 
ou  manque  de  courage,  et  je  Fai  assez  prouve  dans 
ma  Note  Officielle  sur  la  bataille  de  Mer ;  pourquoi 
a-t-on  refuse  la  place  a  cette  Note  dans  le  Moni- 
teur  ?  En  attendant,  les  injures  et  accusations  de 
mes  ennemis  et  de  mes  envieux  y  ont  ete  revues." 

Proceeding,  he  taxes  Napoleon  with  having  used 
language  towards  him  tantamount  to  a  sentence  of 
death.  "Vous  meme,"  he  tells  the  Emperor, 
"  lorsque  vous  recutes  ma  Note  Officielle,  pendant 
votre  heureuse  et  ambitieuse  expedition  en  AUe- 
magne,  disiez  avec  votre  petulance  barbare:  'Je 
vois  qu'il  faut  absolument  un  example  d'un  brigand 
Fran^ais  pour  faire  d'une  victoire  de  ma  puissance 
sur  Mer  une  journaliere.'  Mille  voix  repetoient 
cette  expression,  et  la  sentence  de  mort  insensible 
qu'un  usurpateur  etranger  pronon^a  contre  un 
amiral  Fran9ais  patriote;  et  en  attendant  on  ne 
prit  aucune  connoissance  de  ma  Depeche,  on 
n'entendoit  rien  d'elle ;  elle  n'a  pas  meme  4t6  lue." 
This  sharp  home-thrust  follows  as  to  the  reason 
for  withholding  the  despatch:  "Cette  Depeche 
contenoit  vraiment  quelques  Veritas  am^res,  qui 
n'auroient  pas  contributes  k  mettre  vos  capacit^s 
nautiques  dans  un  lustre  brillant,  mais  au  con- 
traire,  d^montroient  que  celui  dont  Fincapacit^  et 
orgeuil  a  caus^  la  perte  d'une  flotte  Fran9aise  a 
Aboukir,  etoit  aussi  la  cause  de  la  destruction  d'une 
autre  k  Trafalgar." 


WOULD  HAVE  RID  THE  WORLD  OF  NAPOLEON   405 

The  remainder  of  the  letter,  which  takes  up 
several  pages,  is  devoted  mainly  to  a  series  of  bitter 
personal  attacks  on  Napoleon  himself  and  on  his 
family,  and  a  general  indictment  of  "  les  compUces 
de  sa  mechancete,  Dues,  Marechaux  et  Chevaliers," 
who  had  ruined  and  enslaved  the  nation  for  their 
own  private  ends  and  gain ;  battening  on  victories 
which  had  been  obtained  "  par  le  sang  le  plus  pur, 
et  par  les  tresors  les  plus  nobles  de  la  France." 
"During  the  tyranny  which  you  have  practised 
throughout  these  years,  my  country  and  its  alUes 
have  already  lost  more  ships  of  war  than  the 
Royal  Navy  possessed  during  the  greater  part  of 
the  reign  of  Louis  XIV  and  XV,  and  if  my 
country  were  to  endure  much  longer  the  curse  of 
subjection  to  your  iron  sceptre,  its  naval  power 
would  soon  be  brought  down  to  as  low  a  level  as 
that  to  which  its  commerce  by  sea  has  already 
sunk,  and  its  ports  will  only  contain  shameless 
pirates  and  merchants  reduced  to  beggary." 

An  amazing  threat  is  given  vent  to.  He  him- 
self, declares  the  writer,  as  the  letter  draws  towards 
its  close,  had  designed  to  rid  the  world  of  Napo- 
leon, "  The  Order  sent  to  me  from  your  Ministers 
not  to  approach  the  Capital  without  their  permis- 
sion has  deferred  for  a  time  your  punishment,  and 
the  deliverance  of  the  human  race  from  its 
scourge  !  "  ["  a  prolonge  encore  I'espace  de  votre 
punition  et  la  delivration  du  genre  humain  de  son 
fleau."]     "  Had  it  not  been  for  that  order,  I  would 


406  THE  ENEMY  AT  TRAFALGAR 

undoubtedly  have  removed  you  from  among  living 
men ! "  ["  Je  vous  aurois  sans  doute  eflPace  du 
nombre  des  vivans."]  "Resolved  as  I  am  not  to 
survive  the  destruction  of  the  Fleet  of  France,  I 
would  have  accomplished  it  before  laying  hands  on 
myself,  bereft  at  your  instance  as  I  have  been  of 
my  honour,  opportunity  of  duty,  social  position, 
and  my  character." 

The  writer  concludes  with  this  outburst  by  way 
of  peroration :  "  Tremble,  tyrant !  You  live 
abhorred.  You  shall  die  beneath  the  weight 
of  the  world's  curse,  which  shall  pursue  you  be- 
yond the  tomb  ! "  "  Tremble,  Tyran  ! " — are  the 
words  actually  used, — "  tu  vis  abhorr^,  tu  mourra 
sous  le  poid  du  blaspheme  de  tout  le  monde  qui  te 
poursuivra  encore  au  dela  de  ton  tombeau. 

"  De  Villeneuve." 

With  one  detail  more  the  story  of  the  final 
phase  of  Trafalgar  on  the  enemy's  side  reaches  its 
termination.  Minister  of  Marine  Decres  did  not 
forget  the  widow  of  his  old-time  messmate,  left 
as  she  was  in  poverty.  At  the  first  convenient 
opportunity  he,  of  his  own  initiative  apparently, 
laid  before  Napoleon  a  personal  appeal,  asking  that 
a  pension  in  accordance  with  her  late  husband's 
rank  should  be  granted  to  Madame  Villeneuve. 
It  was  two  and  a  half  years  after  Trafalgar,  in 
April,  1808,  before  Admiral  Decres  felt  himself  in 
a  position  to  broach  the  matter  to  the  Emperor ; 


MADAME   VILLENEUVE'S   PENSION  407 

and  even  after  that  interval  he  had  difficulty,  it 
would  seem,  in  arousing  the  Imperial  sympathy 
for  the  wife  of  "  le  vaincu  de  Trafalgar."  He  put 
the  case  as  strongly  as  he  could.  All  said  and 
done,  wrote  Decres,  in  laying  the  matter  before 
Napoleon,  in  spite  of  his  last  campaign  and  un- 
happy end,  Villeneuve  was  a  brave  officer  and  a 
worthy  servant  of  the  Empire.  He  had  performed 
numerous  services  of  importance,  and  his  personal 
devotion  to  Napoleon  was  well  known.^  None 
could  gainsay  the  worth  of  his  character,  "  le  senti- 
ment d'honneur  qu'il  portait  jusqu'  a  I'exaltation." 
The  Minister  of  Marine  suggested  that  a  pension 
of  six  thousand  francs  should  be  bestowed  on 
Madame  Villeneuve,  It  had  been  done,  he  pointed 
out,  in  the  case  of  Madame  Bruix,  the  widow  of 
the  vice-admiral  in  command  of  the  Boulogne 
Flotilla  in  1805.  Both  officers  had  been,  remarked 
Decres,  of  the  same  grade.  Napoleon,  though,  was 
not  disposed  to  be  generous  in  the  present  case. 
After  some  hesitation  he  yielded  to  the  pleadings 
of  Decres,  but  at  the  same  time  he  put  his  pen 
through  the  Minister  of  Marine's  figures,  cutting 
down  the  proposed  pension  by  a  third,  and  making 
Madame  Villeneuve's  grant  four  thousand  francs. 

1  "Vn  brave  militaire  et  un  digne  serviteur  de  Votre  Majeste" 
were  the  words  Decres  used.  He  would  hardly  have  said  that  had 
Villeneuve's  hand  penned  the  letter  in  the  Paget  Papers. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII 
SINCE   TRAFALGAR 

SINCE  Trafalgar  both  France  and  Spain  have 
recognised  their  indebtedness  to  some  of 
those  who  in  adverse  circumstances  vahantly  up- 
held the  honour  of  the  flag  and  did  their  best. 

France — "aux  braves  hommes  la  Patrie  recon- 
naissante  " — has  placed  the  names  of  four  Trafalgar 
officers,  Magon  (underlined,  as  that  of  an  officer 
killed  in  action),  Cosmao,  Lucas,  and  Infernet, 
on  the  Arc  de  Triomphe,  and  the  memories  of 
three  of  these  four  officers  also  have  been  pre- 
served in  the  names  of  men-of-war  of  the  French 
Navy.  There  is  a  "  Redoutable  "  in  the  French 
Navy  to-day,  also  an  "  Intr^pide,"  an  "  Indompt- 
able,"  a  "Formidable,"  a  "Neptune,"  and  an 
"Argonaute,"  all  named  after  ships  that  fought 
at  Trafalgar. 

In  Spain,  the  other  victim  of  the  "stricken 
field,"  it  was  taken  as  an  honour  to  have  been 
vanquished  by  so  renowned  an  antagonist ;  to  have 
gone  down  in  fair  fight  before  Nelson.  Spanish 
honour  was  more  than  satisfied.     Exclaimed  Ad- 

408 


"I   AM   GOING  TO  JOIN   NELSON!"  409 

miral  Gravina,  the  mortally  wounded  Spanish 
Commander-in-Chief,  when  he  was  on  his  death- 
bed :  "  I  am  a  dying  man,  but  I  die  happy  ;  I  am 
going,  I  hope  and  trust,  to  join  Nelson,  the  greatest 
hero  that  the  world  perhaps  has  produced  !  "^  He 
died  in  the  arms  of  his  brother,  Archbishop 
Gravina  of  Nicea,  his  eyes  fixed  on  a  crucifix  held 
close  before  him,  and  with  these  words — it  was  said 
at  the  funeral  service — on  his  Ups :  "  Rey  immortal 
de  los  siglos :  quien  os  hubiesa  serviedo  con  aquel 
zelo  y  eficacia  con  que  he  servido  a  los  Reyes 
de  la  tierra ! "  Compare  with  that  Nelson's  last 
words  in  the  cockpit  of  the  "Victory":  "Thank 
God,  I  have  done  my  duty  ! " 

To  this  day,  the  visitor  to  the  Armeria  Real 
in  Madrid  will  find  the  name  "Trafalgar"  in- 
scribed on  the  roll  of  famous  days  on  which  Spain's 
bravest  and  best  have  done  their  duty;  and  the 
giving  of  the  name  "  Calle  Trafalgar  "  to  one  of  the 
streets  of  the  capital  shows  also  that  Spain  was  by 
no  means  conscious  of  disgrace  at  the  way  in  which 
her  sons  had  borne  themselves  in  defeat.  She  was 
not  then,  and  she  is  not  now.  Speaking  only  the 
other  day  of  the  Trafalgar  centenary,  a  modern 
Spanish  writer,  an  officer  of  rank,  referred  to  the 
occasion  as  "  El  centenario  de  la  gloriosa  pagina 
de  nuestra  Marina." 

1  Related  by  Sir  James  Fellowes  (then  Dr.  Fellowes)^  who  visited 
Gravina  a  day  or  two  before  his  death,  to  Lady  Malmesbury,  and  re- 
corded in  the  "Diary  of  the  first  Earl  of  Malmesbury,''  vol.  IV, 
p.  364. 


410  THE  ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

No  fewer  than  six  pictures,  illustrative  of  inci- 
dents of  Trafalgar,  hang  in  the  Museo  Naval  at 
Madrid,  in  addition  to  portraits  of  the  admirals 
and  most  of  the  captains  present  in  the  battle. 
Their  swords  and  pistols  are  also  exhibited 
there,  together  with  Gravina's  shot-torn  flag 
and  cocked  hat  and  sword,  of  which  previous 
mention  has  been  made;  with,  as  has  also  been 
said,  models  of  certain  of  the  ships  in  Ad- 
miral Gravina's  fleet.  In  addition,  on  the  walls  of 
the  gallery  specially  dedicated  to  "Reliquias  de 
marinos  celebres  y  muertos  en  combate,"  is  dis- 
played a  finely  executed  memorial  tablet,  on 
which  are  inscribed,  "  Para  eterna  memoria,"  the 
names  of  all  the  officers  who  fell  in  action  at  Tra- 
falgar, or  died  of  their  wounds  after  "aquella 
glorissisima  derrota." 

Immediately  after  Trafalgar,  as  has  been  said, 
Gravina — then  lying  in  hospital  in  Cadiz — was 
promoted  "  Capitan  General  de  la  Armada  "  (a  rank 
equivalent  to  our  own  "Admiral  of  the  Fleet"), 
and  every  other  officer  engaged  in  the  battle,  down 
to  the  junior  "  guardia  marina,"  or  midshipman,  was 
advanced  a  step  in  rank.  At  the  same  time  every 
Spanish  sailor  and  soldier  was  granted  treble  pay 
for  the  day.  On  November  6th,  1859,  by  order  of 
the  Cortes,  the  "  Madrid  Gazette  "  announced  the 
granting  of  life-pensions  to  all  surviving  "  veterans 
of  1805  "  who  fought  at  Trafalgar,  on  proofs  of 
identity ; — five  reales  a  day  each  to  warrant  and 


IN   MEMORY  OF  SPAIN'S   GALLANT  DEAD    411 


petty  and  non-commissioned  officers,  four  reales 
to  sailors  and  soldiers.  Public  monuments,  as  we 
have  also  seen, 
were  erected 
in  their  native 
towns  to  the 
captains  who 
fell  in  action. 
A  statue  in  the 
Plaza  Mayor 
of  Vittoria 
commemo- 
rates to  this 
day  the  Span- 
ish Second- 
in- Command, 
Vice -Admiral 
Alava,  who 
survived  Tra- 
falgar many 
years.  Since 
1805,  also, 
from  time  to 
t  ime ,  the 
names  of  the 
leading  Span- 
ish officers  at 
Trafalgar  have 
figured  on  the  Spanish  Navy  List  for  men-of-war ; 
in  particular  those  of  the  two  admirals,  Gravina 


GRAVINA  S  TOMB   IN   THE   PANTEON  DE 

MARINOS  ILLUSTRES 

With  the  tablets  in  memory  of  Churruca  and  Galiano 


412  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

and  Alava,  and  their  flag-captains,  Escano  and 
Gardoqui,  as  well  as  the  names  of  the  three  com- 
modores, Valdez,  Galiano,  and  Churruca.  Memorial 
tablets  inscribed  with  the  names  of  Churruca  and 
Galiano,  stand  beside  Gravina's  tomb  in  the  chapel 
of  the  Panteon  de  Marinos  lUustres  at  San  Fer- 
nando. Two  of  the  principal  thoroughfares  of 
Cadiz  have  ever  since  1805  borne  the  names  of 
Alcala  Galiano,  and  Churruca. 

A  few  years  ago,  moreover,  at  the  instance  of 
Don  Luis  de  Mendoza,  a  man  of  mark  among  his 
countrymen,  who  fought  at  Trafalgar  as  a  "  guardia 
marina"  and  captain's  A.D.C.  on  board  Admiral 
Gravina's  flagship,  the  last  surviving  Spanish  Tra- 
falgar officer  of  all,  a  project  was  set  on  foot  to  erect 
a  monument  on  Cape  Trafalgar  to  the  memory  of 
the  Spanish  officers  and  men  who  fell  in  the  battle  ; 
but  in  the  end  the  proposal,  though  not  unfavour- 
ably received,  fell  through,  and  it  has  not  been 
heard  of  since. 

Just  as  we  in  England  in  October,  1905,  com- 
memorated the  centenary  celebration  of  Nelson's 
death  by  a  special  religious  service  in  Trafalgar 
Square,  so  in  Spain  on  the  same  day,  Saturday  the 
21st,  the  modern  Spanish  Navy  officially  observed 
the  occasion  by  a  special  reUgious  service  at  the 
Pantdon  de  Marinos  lUustres,  San  Fernando,  in 
the  chapel  where  Gravina's  remains  lie.  It  opened 
with  a  requiem  mass  before  the  high  altar  in  the 
Panteon,    at    which    the    Commandant- General, 


THE  CENTENARY  SERVICE  AT  GRAVINA'S  TOMB    413 

admirals  and  captains  and  other  officers  attended, 
with  a  detachment  of  seamen  from  the  naval 
barracks.  After  that,  priests  and  choir,  officers  and 
men,  all  went  in  procession  to  the  tomb,  before 
which  eight  large  funereal  candles  stood  burning. 
Forming  round,  the  choir  chanted  prayers  for  the 
repose  of  the  souls  of  the  illustrious  dead,  for 
Gravina  himself  first,  and  for  rest  to  the  souls 
of  Churruca  and  Galiano.  The  service  was  con- 
ducted in  the  most  impressive  and  solemn  manner, 
perfectly  in  keeping  with  the  occasion,  the  officers 
and  seamen  chanting  the  responses  in  low  tones 
in  unison  with  the  choir. 

"  Trafalgar,"  said  Mr.  Fyffe,  in  his  "  History  of 
Modern  Europe,"  "was  not  only  the  greatest  naval 
victory,  it  was  the  greatest  and  most  momentous 
victory  won  either  by  land  or  by  sea  during  the 
whole  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  No  victory, 
and  no  series  of  victories,  of  Napoleon,  produced 
the  same  effisct  upon  Europe."  "Nelson's  last 
triumph,"  says  Captain  Mahan,  "left  England  in 
such  a  position  that  no  means  remained  to  injure 
her  but  those  which  must  result  in  the  ultimate 
deliverance  of  the  Continent.  Moscow  and 
Waterloo  are  the  inevitable  consequences  of 
Trafalgar."  So  too  a  French  writer  of  distinction 
has  avowed :  "  It  was  the  fleet  of  Nelson  that 
was  the  victor  at  Waterloo."     "  Malgre  les  appar- 


414  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

ences,  ce  n'est  pas  dans  les  flammes  de  Moscou  que 
c'est  evanouie  la  fortune  de  Napoleon ;  elle  s'est 
engloutie  dans  les  eaux  de  Trafalgar.  En  vain 
les  victoires  suecederent  aux  victoires.  Tous  les 
triomphes  du  continent  ne  le  sauveront  pas ;  le  heros 
a  ete  frappe  a  mort  d'une  blessure  secrete.  .  .  .  Ce 
sont  les  vaisseaux  de  TAngleterre  qui  ont  vaincus  a 
Waterloo ! " 

Trafalgar  gave  Great  Britain  the  opportunity  to 
"save  Europe."  It  rendered  Berlin  Decrees  and 
Milan  Decrees  mere  paper  thunderbolts  ;  the  miss- 
fires  of  an  angry  Jove.  It  stopped  the  earth  ;  and 
afterwards  the  run  was  certain,  and  the  kill.  The 
end,  of  course,  was  not  yet.  Years  of  incessant 
fighting  had  yet  to  pass — 

Till  on  that  field  where  last  the  Eagles  swooped, 
A  mighty  master  wielded  Britain's  sword ; 
And  the  dark  soul,  the  world  could  not  subdue. 
Bowed  to  thy  genius.  Prince  of  Waterloo  ! 

England  had  yet  much  to  do,  no  doubt,  to  main- 
tain and  utilize  the  position  she  had  won ;  and 
much  to  endure — increasing  navy  estimates  year 
by  year,  and  the  task  of  keepir  j  at  sea  yet  bigger 
fleets  than  before ;  but  the  key  of  the  situation 
had  passed  into  her  hand  at  Trafalgar.  Without 
Trafalgar,  hardly  a  brigade  could  have  landed 
in  Portugal ;  there  could  have  been  no  Peninsular 
War ;  and  without  the  Peninsular  War  hardly  a 
Waterloo.     The  "  Sauve  qui  peut  I "  of  the  night 


WHAT  TRAFALGAR  MEANT  FOR  NAPOLEON  4L5 

of  the  18th  of  June,  1815,  was  the  natural  eon- 
sequence  of  the  surrender  on  the  quarter-deck  of 
the  French  flagship  "  Bucentaure  "  at  three  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  of  Monday  the  21st  of  October, 
1805.  Trafalgar  cracked  the  feet  of  clay  across : 
Waterloo  but  dealt  the  coup  de  grace  that  sent 
the  doomed  Colossus  over. 

And,  at  the  same  time,  it  was  Napoleon  person- 
ally who  suffered  at  the  hands  of  Nelson,  rather 
than  that  the  peoples  of  France  and  Spain  under- 
went humiliation.  It  was  the  vital  check  in  his 
career  to  the  usurper  and  despot  at  whose  bidding 
untold  thousands  of  the  best  and  bravest  of  the 
sons  of  Europe  laid  down  their  lives  on  a  hundred 
battlefields  between  the  Moskowa  and  the  lines 
of  Torres  Vedras.  Trafalgar  it  was  that,  in  its 
wide-reaching  outcome,  cleared  the  way  for  the 
ultimate  freeing  of  the  French  nation  from  the 
thraldom  of  the  Napoleonic  regime  and  enabled 
Spain  to  attempt  her  own  salvation.  It  may  with 
perfect  truth  be  said  that  we  owe  to  Trafalgar  the 
ninety  years  of  peace  between  England  and  France 
that  have  happily  continued  since  the  downfall  of 
Napoleon,  during  which  period  also  Frenchmen  and 
Englishmen  have  stood  side  by  side  against  more 
than  one  foe.  The  roads  of  Aix  and  the  quarter- 
deck of  the  "Bellerophon,"  clifF-girt  St.  Helena  in 
mid-ocean,  became  certainties  for  the  Man  of 
Destiny — and    for    mankind — on    that    October 


416  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

afternoon  off  Cape  Trafalgar ;  St.  Helena,  and  the 
haunting  shapes  of  Longwood — 

.  .  .  tristesque  ex  aethere  Dirae, 

Et  scissa  gaudens  vadit  Discordia  palla, 

Quam  cum  sanguineo  sequitur  Bellona  flagello. 

The  sequel  and  ultimate  result  of  Trafalgar  has 
been  the  now  nearly  completed  century  of  peace 
between  Great  Britain  and  France  and  Spain, 
which  for  the  benefit  of  the  world  at  large  has 
culminated  in  our  own  day  in  harmony  and  good 
fellowship  between  the  nations.  Esto  perpetua ! 
And  so  the  curtain  falls. 

Silence  is  now  upon  the  seas. 

The  stormy  seas  of  yore ; 
The  thunder  of  the  cannonade 

Awakes  the  wave  no  more ! 


APPENDIX    A 

ADMIRAL  VILLENEUVE'S   MEMORANDUM 

BY  the  special  courtesy  of  the  Minister  of  Marine  in  Paris 
I  am  permitted  to  reproduce  here  the  text  of  the  Fleet 
Circular  issued  by  Admiral  Villeneuve  to  his  captains  at 
Toulon  before  the  fleet  originally  sailed,  which  the  admiral 
brought  forward  for  discussion  with  the  captains  at  Cadiz 
before  Trafalgar.  The  copy  here  given  has  been  made  from 
an  official  draft,  now  preserved  in  Paris,  and  follows  its 
orthography  exactly.  It  covers  four  closely  written  sheets 
of  manuscript,  and  was  apparently  the  office  copy  kept 
by  the  flag-captain  on  board  the  "  Bucentaure,"  afterwards 
saved  from  the  wreck  of  the  French  flagship  in  Cadiz  Bay. 

"ORDRE  POUR  L'ARMEE 

''La  nuit  je  ne  ferai  de  signaux  que  ceux  absolument 
necessaires  :  les  batiments  particuliers  n'en  feriont  que  lorsqu'il 
leur  sera  impossible  de  me  transmettre  leurs  avis  verbalement  au 
moyen  des  fregates  et  Corvettes  et  qu'il  sera  indispensable  que 
je  sois  inform^  sur  le  champ  de  Tobjet  du  signal.  La  necessite 
de  cacher  la  marche  de  Tescadre  doit  indiquer  k  chaque  cap°^ 
commandant  combien  1' usage  des  signaux  de  nuit  doit  etre 
employe  discretement,  et  I'attention  qu'ils  doivent  avoir  a  cacher 
leurs  feux  pendant  la  nuit.  Les  memes  motifs  doivent  leur 
faire  sentir  la  necessite  de  se  tenir  rallies^  et  de  se  coramuni- 
quer  verbalement  la  position,  la  voilure  et  la  route  de  I'amiral 
lorsq'uelle  peut  laisser  quelque  incertitude. 

"  Je  ne  propose  pas  d'aller  chercher  I'ennemi ;  je  veux  meme 

I'eviter   pour   me   rendre   a   ma   destination ;   mais  si  nous  le 

rencontrions,  point  de  manoeuvres  honteuses ;  elles  d^courager- 

aient  nos  equipages  et  entreneraient  [sic]   notre   defaite.     Si 

2  E  417 


418  THE   ENEMY   AT  TRAFALGAR 

rennemi  est  sous  le  vent  a  nous,  maitres  de  nos  manoeuvres, 
nous  formerons  notre  ordre  de  bataille,  nous  arriverons  sur  lui 
tous  a  la  fois :  chacun  de  nos  V^*"^  combat  celui  qui  lui  corre- 
spond dans  la  ligne  ennemie  et  ne  doit  pas  hesiter  a  I'aborder 
si  la  circonstance  lui  est  favorable.  Je  vous  ferai  peu  de 
signaux  mais  j 'attends  tout  du  courage  de  chaque  cap°%  de  celui 
des  officiers  et  des  equipages  et  de  la  circonstance  qui  a  reuni 
k  bord  de  nos  vaisseaux  une  portion  des  plus  braves  troupes  de 
L'Empereur. 

"  Tout  Cap"®  Comm*  qui  ne  serait  pas  dans  le  feu  ne  serait 
pas  a  son  poste ;  celui  dont  le  matelot  d'avant  ou  d'arriere  serait 
plus  pres  de  I'ennemi  que  lui  ne  serait  pas  a  son  poste  et  un 
signal  pour  le  lui  rappeler  serait  une  tache  deshonorante 
pour  lui. 

'*  Les  fregates  doivent  egalement  prendre  part  a  Taction,  car 
si  n'en  ai  pas  besoin  pour  repeter  mes  signaux;  elle  doivent 
choisir  le  point  ou  leur  co-operation  peut  ^tre  avantageuse  pour 
decider  la  defaite  d'un  V*"  Ennemi^  pour  soutenir  un  V*" 
fran9ais  trop  vivement  presse,  lui  donner  le  secours  de  la 
remorque  ou  tout  autre  qui  lui  serait  necessaire.  Combien  de 
chances  de  gloire  sont  ouvertes  aux  jeunes  officiers  comm*"  les 
fregates  dans  un  combat  comme  celui  que  je  viens  de  tracer ! 

'^Si  I'Ennemi  au  contraire  se  presente  au  vent  k  nous  et 
t6moigne  I'intention  de  nous  attaquer,  nous  devons  I'attendre 
sur  une  ligne  de  bataille  bien  serr^e.  C'est  k  Fintelligence  et  k 
I'habilit^  du  V®*"*  de  tete  k  ne  faire  que  la  voile  necessaire 
et  a  ne  tenir  le  vent  qu'autant  qu'il  lui  faut  pour  favoriser  la  for- 
mation de  cet  ordre.  L'Ennemi  ne  se  bornera  pas  a  se  former 
sur  une  ligne  de  bataille  parallele  k  la  notre  et  a  venir  nous 
livrer  au  combat  d'artillerie,  dont  le  succ^s  appartient  souvent 
an  plus  habile,  mais  toujours  au  plus  heureux ;  il  cherchera  a 
entourer  notre  arriere-garde,  k  nous  traverser,  et  a  porter  sur 
ceux  de  nos  V®*"*  qu'il  aurait  d^sunis,  des  pelotons  des  siens 
pour  les  envelopper  et  les  r^duire :  dans  ce  cas  c'est  bien  plus 
de  son  courage  et  de  son  amour  de  la  gloire  qu'un  capitain 
Comm*  doit  prendre  conseil,  que  des  signaux  de  I'amiral  qui, 
peut  ^tre,  lui  meme  engag6  dans  le  combat  et  envelopp^  dans 
la  fum^e,  n'a  plus  la  faculty  d'en  faire.  C'est  encore  ici  le  cas 
de  repeter  qu'un  cap"®  qui  n'est  pas  dans  le  feu  n'est  pas  k  son 
poste.     L' ordre  ^tant  rompu,  tous  les   efforts  doivent  tendre 


ADMIRAL   VILLENEUVE'S   MEMORANDUM      419 

k  se  porter  au  Secours  de  V®*"^  assaillis  et  a  se  rapprocher  du 
V^^  amiral,  qui  en  donnera  1' Example.  A  cette  manoeuvre 
defFensive  (sic)  doit  en  succeder  une  offensive.  Par  suite  de  cette 
manoeuvre  I'Ennemi  doit  avoir  des  V®^"^  demates  qui  doivent 
rester  au  milieu  des  notres ;  c'est  a  les  reduire  que  chacun  doit 
s'appliquer,  et  c'est  encore  ici  que  les  frigates  doivent  jouer  un 
beau  role  et  couvrir  de  gloire  les  officiers  qui  seront  penetres  de 
I'etendu  de  leur  devoir,  comme  des  droits  qu'ils  acquerront  aux 
gi-aces  de  I'Empereur. 

'^  Rien  ne  doit  nous  etonner  k  la  vue  d'une  escadre  anglaise : 
leurs  V«*"*  de  74  n'ont  pas  500  hommes  a  bord;  ils  sont  harrasses 
par  une  croisiere  de  deux  ans ;  ils  ne  sont  pas  plus  braves  que 
nous,  et  ont  infiniment  moins  de  motifs  d'Enthousiasme  et 
d' amour  de  la  patrie.  Ils  sont  habiles  a  la  manoeuvre ;  dans 
un  mois  nous  le  serons  autant.  Enfin  tout  se  reunit  pour 
nous  donner  la  confiance  des  succes  les  plus  glorieux  et  d'une 
nouvelle  ere  pour  la  marine  imperiale. 

"  Je  vous  renvoie  au  surplus  aux  instructions  pour  les  capitaines, 
au  reglement  a  V usage  de  Varmee  navale  et  k  V instruction  particuliere 
pour  la  repetition  des  signaux,  imprimer  a  la  tete  du  cahier  des 
signaux  k  I'usage  de  I'Escadre.  Elles  contiennent  d'excellentes 
maximes,  dont  vous  devez  bien  vous  pen^trer  et  des  dispositions 
que  je  maintiens  dans  toute  leur  Etendue. 

"  II  me  sera  bien  agreable  si,  par  suite  de  cette  campagne,  je 
n'ai  comme  je  I'espere,  que  des  eloges  k  donner  k  la  conduite, 
a  I'habilite  et  a  I'exactitude  dans  le  Service,  des  Cap^*^^  Comm*^ 
et  officiers  attaches  a  I'escadre.  Vous  connaissez  assez  I'Empereur 
et  combien  est  grande  la  maniere  dont  il  recompense  les  bons 
services  et  vous  ne  devez  nullement  douter  de  la  part  qui  vous 
en  est  reservee  par  suite  de  la  campagne  qui  nous  allons 
entreprendre. 

"Veuillez  recevoir  Monsieur  le  Command^  I'assurance  de 
mon  sincere  attachement. 

"  ViLLENEUVE." 

'^  Pour  copie  conforme 
L'adjudant  Com*  de  I'armee. 

"  Prigny." 


APPENDIX    B 

ADMIRAL   VILLENEUVE'S   OFFICIAL   REPORT 

THE  following  is  an  exact  transcript  of  Admiral  Ville- 
neuve's  Trafalgar  despatch,  or  "  Compte  Rendu,"  made 
by  permission  of  the  Minister  from  the  original  document 
preserved  among  the  archives  of  the  Ministry  of  Marine 
in  Paris.  It  covers  ten  pages  of  "papier  ministre,"  and 
is  clearly  and  firmly  and  extremely  neatly  written  in 
Admiral  Villeneuve's  own  hand  throughout,  and  is  signed 
by  him.  Notes  or  corrections  made  by  the  admiral  in  the 
margin  are  here  shown  as  footnotes,  and  certain  sentences 
underlined  by  Villeneuve  are  here  set  out  in  italics.  The 
spelling  and  punctuation  are  as  in  the  MS. 

"A  hord  de  la f regale  anglaise  VEurialus, 
"le\5  Novemhre,  1805. 

"  MONSEIGNEUR, 

"Dans  la  situation,  ou  j'ai  le  malheur  de  me  trouver,  Votre 
Ex.  ne  peut  attendre  de  moi,  qu'un  rapport  fidelle  des  ev^ne- 
ments  qui  ont  suivi  men  depart  de  Cadix,  exempt  de  toute 
observation  sur  les  motifs  qui  ont  dirig^  mes  mouvements ; 
j'ai  eu  I'honneur  de  vous  6crire  jusqu'au  dernier  moment  de  ma 
sortie  de  la  Baye  de  Cadix,  et  c'est  de  ce  moment  meme  que  je 
dois  reprendre  ma  narration. 

"Le  28  vend'^®  (20  8^"^^)  toute  I'arm^e  combinde  6toit  sous 
voiles,  dirigeant  la  route  a  TO.  N.  O.  le  vent  frais  de  la  partie 
S.  S.  O.  J'ai  fait  le  signal  de  prendre  le  ris  que  comportoit 
Tapparence  du  terns  et  de  la  mer,  vers  les  4  heures  du  soir 
le  temps  s'etant  ^clairci  et  le  vent  ayant  pass6  au  S.  O.  et 
k  rO.  S.  O.  j'ai  pris  les  amures  k  tribord,  manoeuvre  pour  rallier 
q.  q.  vaisseaux  qui  etaient  tomb^s  tr^s  sous  le  vent  et  signal^ 
I'ordre  de  marche  sur  3  colonnes,  Tescadre  d'observation  prenant 

420 


ADMIRAL  VILLENEUVE'S   REPORT  421 

la  droite  de  rarmee  combinee ;  je  n'avais  connaissance  que  de 
deux  fregates  ennemies  dans  le  sud  que  j'ai  donne  ordre  aux 
fregates  de  I'armee  de  chasser.  La  nuit  est  venue  sans  que 
j'aye  eu  connaissance  de  I'escadre  ennemie  et  j'ai  continue  la 
meme  route  en  proportionnant  ma  voilure  sur  celles  des  plus 
mauvais  voiliers  de  I'armee  combinee.  A  7 J  heures  du  soir  j'ai 
vu  des  signaux  en  avant  que  je  ne  pouvois  pas  distinguer^  et  a 
8  h  J  r  Argus  est  venu  me  dire  de  la  part  de  I'amiral  Gravina, 
que  le  vaisseau  I'Achille  avoit  eu  connaissance,  a  I'entree  de  la 
nuit  de  18  vaisseaux  ennemis  dans  le  S.  S.  O.  Comme  la  route 
que  faisoit  I'armee  devoit  nous  en  rapprocher  beaucoup  j'ai  signale 
la  ligne  de  hataill  trihord  sans  egard  au  poste  assigne  a  chaque 
vaisseau  en  se  formant  sur  ceux  le  plus  sotis  le  vent.  J'ai  couru 
ainsi  toute  la  nuit  sans  changer  de  direction  le  vent  a  TO. 
le  cap.  au  S.  S.  O. ;  nous  avons  eu  connaissance  des  feux  et  des 
signaux  de  I'ennemi  dans  le  vent  k  nous. 

"Des  que  le  jour  s'est  fait  nous  avons  apper9u  I'ennemi 
k  VO.  au  nombre  de  33  voiles  a  la  distance  d' environ  2  1  |,  le 
cap  Trafalgar  a  ete  aussi  apper9u  a  I'E.  S.  E.  a  4  heures.  J'ai  fait 
signal  aux  fregates  d'aller  reconnoitre  I'ennemi,  et  k  I'armee  de 
former  la  ligne  de  hataille  tribord  amures  ordre  naturel ;  I'amiral 
Gravina  a  en  meme  temps  fait  a  I'escadre  d' observation  celui  de 
se  placer  a  la  tete  de  I'armee  combinee,  le  vent  tres  faible 
k  I'O.  la  mer  tres  houleuse. 

"L'escadre  Ennemie  qui  a  ete  bientot  reconnue  composee 
de  27  Vaisseaux  de  ligne  me  paraissoit  se  diriger  en  masse  sur 
mon  arriere  garde  avec  le  double  motif  de  la  combattre  avec 
avantage  et  de  couper  a  I'armee  combinee  la  retraite  sur  Cadix, 
j'ai  fait  le  signal  de  virer  vent  arriere  tous  a  lafois  et  de  former  la 
ligne  de  bataille  hashord  amures  dans  V ordre  renverse ;  mon  seul 
objet  etant  de  garantir  1' arriere  garde  des  efforts  de  la  totalite 
des  forces  de  I'Ennemi. 

"  Dans  le  nouvel  ordre  signale,  la  3^  escadre,  sous  les  ordres 
du  cap.  A^  Dumanoir  formoit  I'avant  garde  ayant  pour  chef 
de  file  le  vaisseau  espagnol  le  Neptune  commande  par  Don 
Gaetano  Valdez  officier  estime.  J'etois  au  centre  avec  la 
l'"^  escadre  sur  le  Bucentaure  le  lieutenant  general  D.  Allava 
suivoit  avec  la  2«  escadre  et  I'escadre  d' observation  sous  les 
ordres  de  I'amiral  Gravina  formoit  I'arriere  garde  de  I'armee 
ayant  sous   lui   le   C.  A.    Magon   sur   le   vaisseau   I'Algesiras. 


422  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

L'ennemi  continuoit  a  faire  porter  sur  nous  toutes  voiles  dehors 
et  4  9  h.  je  commen9ois  a  distinguer  qu'il  se  developoit  sur  deux 
colones  dont  Tune  se  dirigeoit  sur  mon  Vaiss^**^  amiral  et  1' autre 
sur  I'arriere  de  I'aiinee ;  le  vent  etoit  tres  faible,  la  mer 
houleuse  et  notre  formation  s'efFectuoit  avee  beaucoup  de 
peine. 

"  Mais  dans  le  genre  d'attaque  que  je  prevoyais  que  Fennemi 
alloit  nous  faire,  cette  irregularite  meme  dans  notre  ligne,  ne 
me  paraissoit  pas  un  inconvenient,  si  chaque  vaisseau  eut 
continue  a  serrer  le  vent  sur  son  matelot  et  I'eut  conserve 
a  petite  distance ;  j'ai  fait  nean-moins  au  vaisseau  de  tete 
le  signal  de  serrer  le  vent  et  de  forcer  de  voiles  pour  eviter 
que  r engorgement  ne  fut  trop  grand ;  et  a  11  h.  /e  signal 
d  r  arriere-garde  de  tenir  le  vent  pour  la  mettre  a  meme  de  couvrir 
le  centre  de  Vartnee  qui  paraissoit  etre  le  point  sur  lequel  Fenneini 
semhloit  vouloir  porter  les  plus  grands  efforts. 

''Cependant  l'ennemi  approchoit  sensiblement  quoique  le 
vent  fut  extremement  faible ;  il  avait  a  la  tete  de  ses  colones 
ses  plus  forts  vaisseaux ;  celle  du  Nord  avoit  en  tete  4  vaisseaux 
a  3  ponts.  A  midi  j'ai  fait  le  signal  de  commencer  le  combat 
des  qu'on  seroit  a  portee  et  a  midi  un  quart  les  premiers  coups 
de  canon  ont  ete  tires  des  vaisseaux  le  Fougueux  et  la  S^^  Anne, 
sur  le  vaisseau  le  Royal  Sovereign,  chef  de  file  de  la  colone 
de  droite  portant  pavilion  du  Vice-amiral  Collingwood,  le  feu  a 
^te  interrompu  un  instant,  il  a  repris  un  instant  apres  avec  plus 
de  vivacite  par  tous  les  vaisseaux  qui  ont  ete  a  portee  de  le 
faire,  ce  qui  n'a  pas  empeche  ce  vaisseau  ennemi  de  couper 
la  ligne  en  arri^re  de  la  S*^®  Anne. 

"La  colonne  de  gauche,  conduite  par  le  Victory  portant 
pavilion  de  I'amiral  Nelson  faisoit  la  meme  manoeuvre  et  parais- 
soit vouloir  couper  en  arriere  de  la  S***^  Trinite  et  sur  I'avant  du 
Bucentaure,  mais  soit  qu'il  ait  trouve  la  ligne  trop  serree  sur 
ce  point,  ou  qu'il  ait  change  d'avis  par  tout  autre  motif, 
il  etait  k  demi  portee  de  pistolet,  et  nous  etions  pr^t  a  I'aborder, 
les  grappins  prets  a  etre  jettees  quand  il  a  lance  tout  son 
stribord,  et  il  est  venu  pour  passer  a  poupe  du  Bucentaure.  Le 
Redoutable  occupoit  la  place  du  Neptune^  derri^re  moi,  il 
a  honnorablement  rempli  le  devoir  d'un  vaisseau  matelot 
d' arriere  d'un  pavilion  amiral  il  a  aborde  le  Victory,  mais  cella 

^  Ce  vaisseau  ^toit  tombe  sous  le  vent. 


ADMIRAL   VILLENEUVE'S   REPORT  423 

n'a  pas  empeche  que  par  la  faiblesse  du  vent,  qui  rendoit  tous 
les  mouvements  lents  et  difficiles,  ce  vaisseau  qui  etoit  entraverse 
sous  la  poupe  du  Bucentaure  ne  lui  ait  envoye  plusieurs  bordees 
k  triple  charge,  qui  ont  ete  extremement  meurtrieres  et  de- 
structives. C'est  dans  ce  moment  que  j'ai  fait  le  signal,  aux 
vaisseaux  qui  par  leur  position  actuelle  ne  comhattent  pas  d'en  prendre 
une  quelconqtie  qui  les  ramene  au  feu.  II  m'etoit  impossible  de 
distinguer  I'etat  des  choses  au  centre  et  a  I'arriere  garde  par  la 
grande  fumee  qui  nous  envelopoit ; 

"  Au  vaisseau  le  Victory  avoit  succede  deux  autres  vaisseaux  a 
trois  ponts  ^  et  plusieurs  vaisseaux  de  74?  qui  deffiloient  lentement 
par  I'arriere  du  Bucentaure,  je  venois  de  faire  le  signal  a  Vavant 
garde  de  virer  de  bord  quand  le  grand  mat  et  celui  d'artimon  sont 
tombes,  les  vaisseaux  qui  m'avoient  ainsi  passe  a  poupe  me  pro- 
longeoient  sous  le  vent,  sans  qu'ils  eussent  beaucoup  a  souffrir  du 
feu  de  nos  batteries,  une  grande  partie  de  nos  canons  etant  deja 
demontes,  et  d'autres  engages  par  la  chute  des  mats.  Dans  un 
moment  d'eclairci  je  m'apper9us  que  tout  le  centre  et  I'arriere 
garde  de  I'armee  avoit  plie  et  que  je  me  trouvois  le  vaisseaux 
le  plus  au  vent;  le  mat  de  mizaine  qui  nous  restoit  pouvoit 
faciliter  notre  retraite  sous  le  vent  ou  se  trouvoient  plusieurs  de 
nos  vaisseaux  qui  ne  paraissoient  pas  endommages,  mais  il  finit 
par  tomber,  j'avois  fait  conserver  un  canot  a  la  mer  prevoyant 
le  cas  d'un  dematement  et  dans  I'intention  de  me  transporter 
sur  un  autre  vaisseau,  des  que  le  grand  mat  eut  tombe 
j'ordonnai  de  le  faire  preparer,  mais  soit  qu'il  ait  ete  coule  par 
les  boulets  ou  ecrase  par  la  chute  des  mats,  il  ne  fut  pas 
retrouve.  Je  fis  heller  k  la  S*®  Trinite  qui  etoit  en  avant  k  nous 
si  elle  pouvoit  envoyer  un  canot  et  nous  donner  une  remorque, 
je  n'en  eus  pas  de  reponse,  ce  vaisseau  etoit  lui-meme  fortement 
engage  avec  un  vaisseau  a  3  ponts  qui  le  canonoit  en  hanche. 
Enfin  etant  environne  de  vaisseaux  ennemis  qui  s'etoient  ac- 
cumules,  par  les  hanches,  sur  I'arriere  et  par  le  travers  sous 
le  vent,  et  etant  dans  I'impossibilite  de  leur  faire  aucun  mal 
les  gaillards  et  la  batterie  de  24  etant  abbandonnes  jonches  de 
morts  et  de  blesses,  toute  la  premiere  batterie  demontee  ou 
embarrassee  par  les  greements  et  les  mats  qui  etoient  tombes, 
le  vaisseau  isole  au  millieu  des  vaisseaux  ennemis,  sans  mouve- 
ment  et  dans  I'impossibilite  de  lui  en  donner,  il  fallut  ceder  a  ma 

^  Le  Neptune,  le  Britannia. 


424  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

destinee  et  arreter  une  effusion  de  sang  deja  immense  et 
desormais  inutile. 

"  Toute  la  partie  de  I'armee  a  Tarriere  du  Bucentaure,  comme 
je  I'ai  dit,  avoit  plie  plusieurs  vaisseaux  etoient  demates  de  tout 
mat  et  rendus  a  Tennemi,  quelques-uns  combattoient  encore  en 
faisant  leur  retraite  sur  un  gros  de  vaisseaux  qui  me  restoient 
a  FEst. 

"  Les  vaisseaux  de  I'escadre  du  C.  A^  Dumanoir  qui  avoient 
couru  en  avant  paraissoient  manoeuvrer  plusieurs  des  vaisseaux 
qui  la  composoit  arrivoient  pour  se  rallier  aux  vaisseaux  les  plus 
sous  le  vent  tandis  que  5  autres  viroient  de  bord  et  prenoient 
les  amures  a  tribord,  ces  vaisseaux  ont  passe  au  vent  des  deux 
armees,  en  echangeant  des  coups  de  canon,  le  plus  souvent  a 
grande  distance ;  le  dernier  de  ces  5  vaisseaux  qui  etoit  je  crois 
le  Neptune  espagnol  un  peu  plus  sous  le  vent  que  les  autres 
a  ete  oblige  de  se  rendre. 

"  Dans  le  genre  d'attaque  que  I'ennemi  a  fait  sur  nous,  il  en 
devoit  resulter  un  pelle  melle  et  une  reunion  de  combats  partiels 
qui  ont  ete  soutenus  avec  la  plus  noble  audace,  I'Ennemi  doit 
ses  avantages  a  la  force  de  ses  vaisseaux  (dont  7  a  3  ponts  et 
dont  le  moindre  ne  porte  pas  moins  de  114  bouches  a  feu)  a  la 
force  de  son  artillerie  toute  de  gros  calibre,  au  moyen  de  ses 
carronades,  a  1' ensemble  et  a  la  celerite  de  ses  manoeuvres,  a 
I'experience  de  3  ans  de  mer  sans  interruption,  experience  qui 
manquoit  entierement  a  une  grande  partie  des  vaisseaux  de 
I'armee  combinee.  Le  courage  et  le  devouement  a  la  patrie 
et  a  I'Empereur  des  Etats-majors  et  equipages  des  vaisseaux  de 
S.  M.  ne  pouvoit  etre  surpasse,  il  s'est  manifeste  au  signal 
de  mettre  sous  voiles,  a  celui  de  se  preparer  au  combat,  par  les 
applaudissements  et  les  cris  de  Vive  I'Empereur  dont  mes 
signaux  ont  et6  acqueillis;  je  n'ai  pas  vu  un  homme  ^branle 
a  la  vue  de  la  formidable  colonne  de  I'Ennemi  prec^d^  de 
quatre  vaisseaux  k  3  ponts  qui  se  dirigeoient  sur  le  vaisseau  le 
Bucentaure. 

"  Je  ne  doute  pas,  Monseigneur  que  vous  n'ayez  d6j^  recueilli 
les  traits  les  plus  honorables  de  la  valeur  qui  a  ete  deployee 
dans  cette  journee  malheureuse,  par  les  rapports  qui  ont  du 
deyk  vous  etre  addresses,  par  les  differends  chefs  qui  se  sont 
trouves  k  portee  de  le  faire. 

"  Taut  de  courage  et  de  devouement  meritoit  une  meilleure 


ADMIRAL   VILLENEUVE'S   REPORT  425 

destin^e,  mais  le  moment  n'6tait  pas  encore  arrive  ou  la  France 
aura  a  celebrer  ses  succ^s  maritimes^  ensemble  avec  ses  victoires 
sur  le  continent. 

"Quant  k  moi,  Monseigneur,  profondement  penettre  de 
toute  I'etendue  de  mon  malheur  et  de  toute  la  responsabilite 
que  comporte  un  aussi  grand  desastre,  je  ne  desire  rien  tant 
que  d'etre  bientot  a  meme  d'aller  mettre  aux  pieds  de  S.  M.  ou 
la  justification  de  ma  conduite  ou  la  victime  qui  doit  etre 
immolee,  non  a  I'honneur  du  pavilion,  qui,  j'ose  le  dire,  est 
demeure  intact,  mais  aux  manes  de  ceux  qui  auroient  peri  par 
mon  imprudence,  mon  inconsideration  ou  I'oubli  de  quelqu'un 
de  mes  devoirs. 

"  Je  prie  votre  Excellence  d'agreer  I'liommage  de  mon  respect 

"  ViLLENEUVE. 

"J'ai  ^te  enlev6  de  mon  vaisseau  d^s  qu'il  a  ete  rendu  et 
conduit  par  un  vaisseau  ennemi  avec  le  cap*^  Majendie,  I'adj*^ 
Com^  Contamine  un  lieutenant  de  vaisseau  M'^  Baudran  et  un 
aspirant  attache  a  mon  etat  major  general.  Le  cap®  Majendie  le 
chef  d'etat  major  Prigny;  M"^  d'Audignon  lieutenant  de  vaisseau  ; 
Gaudron (id) ont  ete  blesses;  presque  tous  ceux  qui  etoient  sur 
le  pont  ont  ^te  tues  ou  blesses ;  il  m'est  impossible  de  donner 
d'autres  renseignements  sur  le  nombre  des  morts  et  blesses  du 
Bucentaure  et  des  autres  vaisseaux  de  I'armee,  mais  il  a  du 
etre  tr^s  considerable,  Votre  Excellence  aura  re9U  tous  les 
renseignements  n^cessaire  par  les  officiers  arrives  k  Cadix. 
Aucun  des  vaisseaux  fran9aisi  (le  Switsure  excepte)  n'ont  pu 
etre  releves  de  la  cote  dans  le  coup  de  vent  qui  a  suivi  Taction, 
tous  etant  entierement  demates  et  extremement  maltraites 
dans  toutes  leurs  autres  parties.  Le  Switsure  et  3  autres 
vaisseaux  espagnols  ont  ete  conduits  k  Gibraltar,  un  seul,  le 
S^  Jean  de  Nepomucene  qui  n'etoit  pas  demate  pourra  etre 
remis  en  ^tat  de  servir. 

"  L' Ennemi  a  fait  des  pertes  tr^s  sensibles  entre  autres  celle 
de  I'Amiral  lord  Nelson  et  de  plusieurs  officiers  marquants ;  la 
plus  grande  partie  de  cette  flotte  est  obligee  de  rentrer  dans 
les  ports  de  I'Angleterre  pour  s'y  reparer." 

1  Pris  par  TEnnemi. 


APPENDIX    C 

CAPTAIN  MAGENDIE'S   PLANS  OF  TRAFALGAR 

THE  larger  plan  here  given  is  of  particular  and  historic 
interest.  It  is  a  tracing  (reduced  in  reproduction) 
of  the  original  sent  to  France  by  Captain  Magendie,  of 
the  flagship  "  Bucentaure,'''  and  now  in  the  archives  of  the 
Ministry  of  Marine  in  Paris.  By  special  permission  of 
the  Minister  of  Marine,  leave  has  been  granted  to  reproduce 
it  in  this  book — the  first  time  the  plan  has  ever  been 
published.  The  document  is  inscribed  on  the  back  :  "  l^'^ 
Plan  envoye  de  Cadix  :  date  de  V®*"  anglaise  le  Neptune,  le 
6  Brumaire,  an  14: — Cap.  Magendie."  The  "Neptune" 
was  the  ship  on  board  which  Villeneuve  and  Magendie  were 
transferred  from  the  "  Mars,"  and  lodged  for  a  short  while, 
pending  the  preparation  of  accommodation  in  the  frigate 
"Euryalus,"  which  was  to  take  them  to  England. 

The  document  was  apparently  sent  ashore  to  Cadiz  during 
the  week  after  the  battle — by  the  medium  probably  of  one 
of  the  wounded  French  officers  permitted  by  CoUingwood 
to  be  landed  on  parole — together  with  a  brief  covering 
letter  from  Captain  Magendie,  also  now  in  the  archives  of  the 
Ministry  of  Marine  in  Paris,  and  with  a  sketch  plan  by 
Magendie  of  the  situation  of  the  flagship  "Bucentaure" 
at  different  periods  of  the  battle.  It  is  thus  the  earliest 
authentic  plan  of  Trafalgar  ever  made,  and  may  be  compared 
with  advantage — in  regard  particularly  to  the  British  for- 
mation for  the  attack — with  the  British  plan,  shown  facing 
page  106,  which  was  sent  to  England  by  the  "Euryalus"  as 
an  enclosure  with  CoUingwood's  despatches,  and  was  signed 

426 


CAPTAIN   MAGENDIE'S   PLANS  427 

by  Magendie,  apparently  to  authenticate  the  positions  of  the 
ships  of  the  Combined  Fleet  there  shown. 

A  copy,  roughly  drawn,  of  the  British  plan,  with  certain 
minor  differences  of  detail,  is  also  among  the  archives  of  the 
Ministry  of  Marine  in  Paris.  That  document  shows  the 
ships  of  the  three  navies  differentiated  by  colours  :  British, 
red ;  French,  blue ;  Spanish,  yellow.  It  shows  the  British 
Fleet  first  at  daybreak  (au  petit  jour)  as  in  the  plan  at 
page  107.  It  shows  the  British  also  at  nine  o'clock,  advanc- 
ing in  two  wedge-shaped  clusters,  nearly  a  mile  apart. 
It  shows  the  British  Fleet  at  noon,  in  the  same  line-ahead 
formation  as  appears  in  the  British  map,  except  that  the 
rearmost  eight  ships  of  CoUingwood's  line  (not  named)  are 
still  in  a  cluster,  more  or  less  abreast  of  one  another ;  with 
the  "Prince"  and  "Dreadnought'"'  out  of  station,  as  they  are 
seen  in  the  British  plan.  The  rearmost  seven  of  Nelson's 
ships  are  in  like  manner  in  a  cluster :  first  three  ships  nearly 
abreast;  then  four  astern  of  all.  In  the  Combined  Fleet 
the  position  of  some  of  the  ships  of  Gravina's  "Squadron 
of  Observation"  varies  somewhat  in  one  or  two  cases  from 
that  attributed  to  them  in  the  British  plan  ;  they  are  shown 
as  having  already,  to  some  extent,  come  into  line  in  rear 
of  Villeneuve's  battle  squadron ;  but,  otherwise,  their  dis- 
position is  as  there  represented.  The  document  is  inscribed 
on  the  back  :  "  2^  Plan,  envoye  d'Angleterre  (sans  date)  : — 
Magendie." 

The  captain  of  the  "  Bucentaure's "  plan  of  the  6th 
Brumaire  (28th  October)  is  of  vital  interest,  as  showing, 
from  the  hand  of  an  eye-witness,  the  actual  formation  in 
which  Nelson  made  his  attack,  with  the  ships  of  Colling- 
wood's  division  moving  down  slantwise,  en  echelon^  on  the 
centre  and  rear  of  the  Combined  Fleet  in  the  "order  of 
bearing." 

Captain  Magendie's  series  of  plans  of  the  situation  of  the 
flagship  "Bucentaure"  at  various  stages  of  the  battle  up 
to  the  moment  of  Admiral  Villeneuve's  surrender,  are  also 


428  THE   ENEMY   AT   TRAFALGAR 

given  here,  as  well  as  a  plan  of  Trafalgar  drawn  by  Captain 
Lucas  of  the  "  Redoutable/'  That  was  forwarded  to  Paris 
by  him  from  Reading  in  January,  1806,  by  Captain 
Magendie,  on  that  officer's  release  on  parole  in  order  to  give 
a  personal  explanation  of  the  defeat  to  Napoleon,  with  Lucas's 
own  detailed  narrative  of  the  doings  of  his  ship.  For  the 
reproduction  of  these  in  this  book  special  leave  was  also 
accorded  by  the  Minister  of  Marine. 

[By  the  courtesy  of  Admiral  Sir  Cyprian  Bridge,  g.c.b.,  I 
am  permitted  to  reproduce  also  the  plan,  explanatory  of  the 
movements  of  the  fleets  between  midnight  on  Sunday,  the 
20th  of  October,  and  noon  on  Monday,  shortly  before  the 
first  shot  was  fired,  which  was  prepared  by  him  to  accompany 
his  paper  on  the  tactics  of  the  battle  ("  Nelson :  The  Cen- 
tenary of  Trafalgar  *"),  read  as  a  special  address  before  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  Navy  Records  Society  in  July,  1905.] 


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Plan  showing  how  Admiral  Villeneuve's  flagship,  the  "Bucentaure/'was  cut 
off  and  forced  to  surrender ;  traced  from  the  original  by  Captain  Magendie. 
Also  general  plan  of  the  battle,  showing  how  the  attack  was  driven  home ; 
traced  from  the  original  sent  by  Captain  Lucas  of  the  *' Redoutable  "  to 
Admiral  Decres.    Each  plan  is  a  photographic  reproduction  of  the  tracing. 

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Plan  showing  how  Nelson's  advance  at  Trafalgar  was  made.     Drawn  by  Captain  Magendie  of  the 

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iuced  by  photography.) 


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(From  "Nblson:  Thb  Cbntbnarv  of  Trapalgak."    By  Admiral  Sir  Cyprian  Bridge,  g.c.b. 
Reproduced  by  kind  permission.] 


INDEX 


Alava,  Adm.,48, 86,  111,  119, 126, 
248,  251-8,  263,  305,  328,  333, 
411-12 

Alava's  sword,  CoUingwood's  claim 
to,  253-7 

Alava,  Don  Miguel,  250 

Alcedo,  Rear-Adm.,  79 

"Alge^iras,"  Recapture  of  the,  303 

Allemand,  Adm.,  29 

Apodoca,  Don  R.,  276,  283 

''Armee  d*Angleterre "  at  Bou- 
logne, 4-8 

"  Avenger  of  Nelson,"  The,  182-3 

Atcherley,  J.,  Capt.,  140-2 

Badcock,  Mid.,  109,  272,  315 
Barham,  Lord,  352 
Barker,  G.  A.,  Mid.,  299 
Barrow,  Sir  J.,  352 
Bayntun,  Capt.,  307 
Baudoin,  Capt.,  76,  168 
Beaty,  Christopher,  208 
Bennett,  C,  Lieut.,  302-3 
Bickerton,  Adm.,  22,  32 
Berthier,  Marshal,  365 
Beurnonville,  Gen.,  24,  25,  329 
''Billy  Ruffn— Victory  or  Death,'' 

204 
Blackwood,  Capt.,  82-4, 95-6,253, 

376-7 
Bretonniere,  La,  Lieut.,  186,  303 
British  advance,  Order  of,  105-8 


"  Bucentaure,**  Details  of  sur- 
render of,  131,  137 

''Bucentaure" — Captain  Atcherly 
goes  on  board,  140-2 

''  Bucentaure,"  Fate  of,  after  the 
battle,  304 

Butron,  A.,  Capt,  289 

Cadiz    after    the    battle.   Letters 

from,  326-9 
Cadiz,  Landing  of  the  wounded 

at,  332-8 
Calder,  Adm.,  3,  13,  22,  24,  28, 

32,  73,  75,  98 
Camas,  Capt.,  209 
Captains,  Villeneuve's  insti  nctions 

to  his,  53-6 
Cauchard,  Sub-Lieut.,  219 
Chatham  war  prisoners'  memorial, 

391-2 
Churruca,  Commodore,  48,  49,  78, 

126,  274-85,  330,  412-13 
Churruca's  "  San  Juan,"  Fate  of, 

285-6 
Cisneros,  Adm.,  48,  78,  126,  261, 

273,  328,  333 
Codrington,  E.,  Capt.,  199,  311, 

381 
Collingwood,  Adm.,  21,  22,  28, 

108,  118,  143, 191,  212-13,  236, 

251-5,  263,  266,  306,  346,  371, 

374,  379 


2   G 


433 


434 


INDEX 


CoUingwood's     ruse     off     Cadiz, 

21-2 
CoUingwood,  Mid.,  182-3 
Colours  nailed  to  the  mast,  Spanish, 

287-8,  290 
Combined  Fleet  leaving  port,  81-6 
„  „    turns     back     for 

Cadiz,  99-100 
Contamine,  Brigadier,  37,  134-5, 

141-2 
Cornwallis,  Adm.,  12 
Corunna,  Reception  of  the  news 

at,  331-2 
Cosmao-Kerjulien,  Capt. ,  48, 74-5, 

110,  202-4,  240,  305,  408 
Council  of  War,  The,  48-62 

Dartmoor,  War  prison  on,  393 
Decres,  Adm.,  Min.  of  Marine,  5, 

16,  17,  32-9,  41,  62,  62,  64,  87, 

112,   128,  144,  146,  158,  365, 

395-6,  400-1,  402,  406-7 
Despatch  before  the  battle,  Ville- 

neuve's  final,  87 
Despatches — CoUingwood's  reach 

England,  348 
Digby   Capt.,  271 
Ducrest,  Mid.,  166,  171 
Dumanoir,  Adm.,  28,  48,  71-2, 

86,  102,  111,  119,  120-3,  127, 

192,  228-30,  232,  235,  238-9, 

240-1,  291-3,  328,  330 
Dumanoir,  Adm.,  Court-martial 

on,  239-40 
Dumanoir 's  letter  to  the  "  Times," 

236-8 
Dupotet,  Lieut.,  156,  171 
Durham,  Sir  P.,  Capt.,  206 

Edwards,  J.,  Lieut.,  316 
England  awaiting  invasion,  8-11 
Escano,  Rear- Adm.,  48,  242,  328, 
330 


Flag  of  truce,  CoUingwood's,  341 
Fouche,  Minister  of  Police,  400 
''Fougueux,"  Wreck  of  the,  297-9 
Franklin,  J.,  Mid.,  27 
French  ships.  Condition  of,  61 
French  frigates.  Why  they  offered 

no  help,  137-9 
French  regiments  on  board,  45-6 

Galiano,  Commodore,  48,  49,  78, 
126,  287-90,  412-13 

Ganteaume,  Adm.,  12,  35 

Gemahling,  Capt.,  234 

Gicquel  des  Touches,  Lieut.,  191 

Godoy,  Prince  of  Peace,  24,  26, 
242,  261 

Gourrege,  Capt.,  76,  204-7,  330 

Gravina,  Adm.,  14,  25,  26,  36, 
40-2,  46,  48-9,  53,  59,  60,  67, 
77-8,  86-8,  92-4,  99,  100,  103, 
110,  118,  123,  127,  158,  202-3, 
228,  230,  242-50,  263,  286,  294, 
328,  330,  333,  371,  409-13 

Gravina's  tomb  and  relics,  248- 
60 

Guillemard,  R.,  Sergeant,  179 

Guruceta,  Lieut.,  290 

Halloran,  Second  Lieut.,  140,  227 
Hallowell,  B.,  Capt.,  200 
Hardy,  Capt.,  183,  231-2 
Hargood,  Capt.,  295 
Hennah,  Lieut.,  143 
Heroism  of  a  French  captain,  209 
Hicks,  W.,  Mid,,  139 
Hubert,  Capt.,  76 
Hulks,  Life  in  the,  386-90 

111  humour  of  the  French  officers, 

27-8 
Infernet,  Capt.,  76-6,  123,  127, 

189-92,   194,   196-7,    19^-201, 

378,  398,  408 


INDEX 


4S5 


Inferaet's  promise  to  Napoleon^ 
190 

Jeannette  of  the  ''  Achille/'  219 
Jugan,  Capt.,  138,  246 

King  George  and   the   news   of 

Trafalgar,  363 
Knight,  Sir  J.,  Adm.,  226 

Lapenotiere,  Lieut.,  347,  348,  350 
Last  ship  to  surrender.  The,  293 
Last  parade  of  the  Grand  Army,  20 
Last  sutvivor  of  Trafalgar,  268-9 
La  Touche  Tre'ville,  Adm.,  39, 403 
Lauriston,  Gen.,  18,  87 
Le  Toumeur,  Capt.,  185 
Le  Roy,  Col.,  26 

Line  of  battle,    Villeneuve's  or- 
iginal, 67-9 
Lucas,  Capt.,  44,  90,  112,  146-6, 
160,   167-8,   160,   169,    173-7, 
191,  378,  396,  398,  408 
Lucas's  "  Redoutable  "  seal,  177 

Macdonell,  Capt.,  80 
Mack,  General,  343,  344 
Madame     Villeneuve's     pension, 

406-7 
Magendie,  Capt.,  134, 141-2, 144, 

377-9 
Magon,  Adm.,  28,  29,  44,  48,  49, 

63,  66,  72-4,  86,  102,  111,  126, 

183-7,  328,  330,  408 
Magon,  Death  of,  184-5 
Maistral,  Capt.,  48,  76 
Malcolm,  Sir  P.,  Capt,  306,  310 
Marsden,  Mr.  W,,  360,  362,  368 
Massena,  Marshal,  4,  7,  76 
Missiessy,  Adm.,  38 
**  Monarca  " — last  night  on  board 

described,  307-8 
Morris,  J.  N.,  Capt.,  288,  290 
Moyna,  Capt.,  277,  282 


Mutiny  in  the  ''  San  Juan,"  The, 
274-6,  366-6,  376,  383,  396, 
402,  403-7,  416 

Napoleon,  1,  2,  3,  20,  32-9,  159, 
175,  239 

Napoleon's  change  of  plans,  33-4 

Napoleon's  public  reference  to 
Trafalgar,  375 

Nelson,  Lord,  2,  3,  16,  19,  22, 
46,  6Q,  83,  108,  150,  162,  156, 
168-9,  161,  163,  172,  181-3, 
212,  231,  235,  261-3,  266,  268, 
328,  329,  342,  354,  356,  359-64, 
371-2,  409 

News  of  Rosily's  approach,  63-4 

News  of  Trafalgar  at  the  Ad- 
miralty, 350-2 

Night  alarm.  The,  88-9 

Olaete,  I.,  Lieut.,  273 

Paget,  Sir  A.,  401 
Pareja,  A.,  Capt.,  79,  294 
Paris,   Rumours  of  Trafalgar  in 

the  papers,  369-71 
Paul  Jones,  366 
Pellew,  Israel,  Capt.,  139,  140-1, 

209 
Pitt  and  Nelson's  death,  366 
Plassan,  Lieut.,  185 
PoUard,  J.,  Capt.,  182 
Poulain,  Capt.,  330 
Prefect  Mounier,  397 
Press  gangs  at  Cadiz,  41 
Prigny,  Capt.,  48,  134,  141-2 
Prisoners,    Fate   of  the,   376-7, 

379,  380,  382-94 
Prizes  that  escaped  destruction. 

The,  311-13 

"  Redoutable  " :  How  Lucas  trained 

his  men,  146-8 
"Redoutable,"    Sinking  of    the, 

299-301 


436 


INDEX 


Reille,  Gen.,  37 

Return  of  killed  and  wounded. 

General,  374 
Rigodet,  Sub-Lieut.,  233 
Riquelme,  Lieut.,  266 
Robin,  Commodore,  343 
Robinson,  Hercules,  Mid.,  144 
Rosily,  Adm.,  36,  62-4,  248,  312, 

313,  329,  333,  371,  379 
Rumours     from     Lisbon     reach 

London,  342 

Salcedo,  Adm.,  33 

"  Santisima     Trinidad,"     Lieut. 
Smith  on  board,  271 

*' Santisima  Trinidad,"  Founder- 
ing of  the,  314-17 

Sartoria,  J.,  Lieut.,  273 

Segur,    De,   Napoleon's   A.D.C., 
20,  73-4 

Sergeant    Guillemard,    Narrative 
of,  179-81 

Servaux,  Pierre,  211-98 

Silence  of  the  "Moniteur,"  367-8 

Smith,  Sir  Sidney,  366 

Smith,  Lieut.,  271 

Solana,  Marquis  de,  26,  333,  341 

Sortie  after  the  battle.  The,  304-6 

Spanish  regiments  on  board,  43 
„       ships,  men  on  board,  62 
„       casualty  statement,  295-6 
„  Trafalgar  Centenary  service, 
412-13 

Strachan,  Sir  R.,  Com.,  228,  233 

Supersession   of   Admiral    Ville- 
neuve,  36-7 


Taylor,  Col.,  363 

Temper  of  the  Spaniards  at  Cadiz, 

23-7 
Tempie,  Second  Capt.,  204 
Time  table  of  events,  Approximate, 

126-7 
Trafalgar  trophy  swords.  The,  143 

Ulm,  news  of  its  surrender  reaches 

England,  343-6 
Uriarte,  Capt.,  273 

Valdez,  Capt.,  78-9, 110,  111,  123, 
127,  291-4 

Vasquez,  G.  C.  (last  survivor), 
269 

Villegris,  Capt.,  48 

Villeneuve,  Adm.,  3-6,  12-21, 
23-41,  43,  46,  47-71,  74,  86-8, 
93,  97,  99,  101-4,  110,  113-14, 
116-17,  119,  120-1,  126,  128, 
134,  136-7,  140-4,  168,  176, 
184,  192,  194,  197,  247,  261, 
276,  328,  329,  371,  376-9,  394- 
407 

Villeneuve  in  England,  376-9 

Villeneuve's  last  letter  to  his  wife, 
399 

Villeneuve's  death,  Proces-verbal 
on,  397-8 

Villeneuve's  alleged  letter  to 
Napoleon,  401-6 

Villeneuve's  farewell  gifts  to  Lucas 
and  Infernet,  398 

Yon,  xMid.,  162,  163 


Jktf^, 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 
OpWth«[dpt|  tC^hich  renewed. 
Rene^twbo6ksare  rubject  to  immediate  recall. 


JUL    21963 


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LD  21A-50m-ll,'62 
(D3279b10)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


LIBRARY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  BEFORE  CLOSING  TIME 
ON  LAST  DATE  STAMPED  BELOW 


\  tr.r.r  ;-\/    ^irr- 

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LD  62A-50m-2,'64 
(E3494sl0)94l2A 

General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 

